Chocolate shop offers gourmet sweet treats

If you appreciate the finer things in life and believe quality matters, the Gourmet Boutique & Galler Chocolatier is likely to tempt your taste buds.

The store opened on the corner of Reid Street and Queen Street last month and has already won corporate customers and individual fans.

The family-run business is co-owned by husband and wife team Letroy and Bernadette Walker.

Their daughter Kelly Creary also works in the shop.

The family used to live in London and miss the array of stores offering speciality coffees, breads and delicacies such as caviar.

Mrs. Walker said: “In Bermuda we don’t have any of those little shops where you can come and find your favourite tea or your favourite this.

“We decided to bring a bit of European flair to Bermuda.

“I’ve been thinking about doing this for quite some time.”

Caviar

Mr. Walker used to be in the food and beverage industry, while his wife has marketing experience, so their combined expertise means they are a natural fit to open the shop together.

Mrs. Walker said: “I lived in London for more than 15 years and my husband lived there for more than five years.

“Every Saturday we used to go to Caviar House and buy foie gras, brioche, smoked salmon and caviar.

“We used to have our treats on the weekend. It was really nice. We went to a food show and saw all these lovely little offerings.

 “What we wanted was to bring all of our favourites into one shop and make it like a boutique.

“We were going to do that in London before we moved here but my husband got a job offer in Bermuda.

“We researched the market for quite some time and the next step was finding the right property.”

With the help of Capital G bank, the couple snared one of the prime locations in Hamilton.

Mrs. Walker said: “This is a perfect location — I couldn’t ask for a better spot.

“Business has started out slowly but we’ve had lots of inquiries and a couple of corporate accounts and wholesale accounts.

“We’ve been really blessed so I can’t complain.” Mrs. Walker is very proud of the quality of items available at Gourmet Boutique.

She said: “All of our products have won many taste tests and awards in their fields.”

Subtleties

Purchasing the fine lines was not a problem but finding knowledgeable people to sell the items was.

With high-end products, educating staff to the taste subtleties of the various lines was key. Mrs. Walker said: “Staffing was a big hurdle. We started to see people in April and we found really nice staff.”

Mrs. Walker believes the store will succeed because “our shop ­isn’t filled with things you need, it’s filled with things you want”.

She added: “What do people buy? Things that they want.”

Mr. Walker, who admits to having a sweet tooth, bragged about the quality of the Galler chocolate range the store stocks. He said: “We wanted to have a shop where you could get everything under one roof.

“Galler and Godiva competed in a taste test and Galler won in every category.

“We’re happy about what we’re doing here in Bermuda and we hope people will embrace it.”

The Gourmet Boutique & Galler Chocolatier is on the corner of Reid Street and Queen Street, call 296-9425.