After years of requests from customers in Atlantic Canada, Vancouver-based Purdys Chocolatier will open locations in Halifax, Dartmouth, Fredericton and Dieppe on Sept. 4.
For nearly 120 years, Purdys has operated primarily in Western Canada and Ontario. Maritimers have largely had to order online, travel elsewhere or rely on friends and relatives to bring home the company’s chocolates.
That changes Sept. 4, when Purdys opens four Maritime shops simultaneously. Permanent locations at Regent Mall in Fredericton and Champlain Place in Dieppe will be joined by pop-ups at Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth and Halifax Shopping Centre.
The Halifax Shopping Centre location is expected to move into a permanent storefront in early 2027. The Mic Mac Mall pop-up will allow the company to assess demand in Dartmouth.
Purdys chief operating officer Kriston Dean says the expansion follows years of requests from Atlantic Canadian customers.
“We’ve had so much demand from Maritimers via social media, email requests into the office and customers asking staff at existing locations about the possibilities of Maritime locations,” she says. “We’ve just had a really loud voice coming from the area.”
Purdys was founded in Vancouver in 1907 and spent much of its early history concentrated in Western Canada. The company entered Ontario in 2004 and now has more than 27 locations in the province. Its arrival in the Maritimes marks the latest stage of its eastward expansion.
Opening four shops in one region at the same time is unusual for the company. Dean says Purdys does not set fixed store-opening targets, instead expanding as suitable locations become available.
“We continue to think there are opportunities in more places in Canada for us to grow,” she says. “We don’t need to grow fast. We don’t have a mandate to have a certain number of stores. We grow as best as we can plan and when it feels right for the business.”
Although Purdys sells its products online, Dean says physical stores remain important because customers can see, smell and sample the chocolates.
“Smell, taste and experience are a lot of what we provide for our customers, so that physical retail presence is really important for us,” she says.
Dean says the challenge in the Maritimes was not finding interested customers but waiting for suitable retail spaces to become available. The company operates some street-front and power-centre stores, but its busiest locations tend to be in shopping centres, where customers are often already looking for gifts.
The four new shops will carry established Purdys products, including their signature Hedgehogs, which are chocolates with a hazelnut filling, their Himalayan Pink Salt Caramels and Sweet Georgia Browns, which are made with roasted pecans, caramel and chocolate.
Purdys produces its chocolates at its Vancouver factory using cocoa certified through the company’s sustainable cocoa program. Dean says the company does not use preservatives or shelf-life extenders, making transportation and inventory planning important as it expands farther from its production facility.
“Our commitment to quality and premium ingredients is really key,” she says. “We have a very short shelf life and are committed to that.”
The company will also introduce Maritime-themed gift boxes at the four locations. Dean says Purdys is considering whether regional desserts and flavours could also inspire future products.
One dessert that has caught the product development team’s attention is blueberry grunt.
“The team has been actively trialing and testing things related to blueberry grunt, which we’ve heard is a very popular dessert,” Dean says. “We’re looking at whether that is something that could be translated into a chocolate and what that might look like.”
The arrival of a national retailer adds another competitor to a region with several independent chocolate makers. Dean says Purdys sees its products as distinct from those made by smaller artisan producers.
“There are a lot of great independent and other national brands in different parts of the country,” she says. “We respect that. We don’t do what they do, and they don’t do what we do. Hopefully, we can raise the entire chocolate market in an area as people gain a passion for it.
“We know that when people try our Hedgehog or Himalayan Pink Salt Caramel, they sort of fall in love,” she continues. “That’s what creates the bond. Then they want to give it to the people they love.”
