ELLSWORTH — The much-admired Chocolate
Barn wed the up-and-coming Bud Connection Friday.
Barbara Courchesne, owner of the Main Street flower shop,
has purchased the Oak Street confectionary business.
“I think it’s a perfect marriage,” said
Courchesne. “It’s such a natural fit. You walk
in and it seems like the case has been here forever.”
Courchesne bought the Chocolate Barn from its creator, Heather
Fowler of Lamoine, who sold the business to spend more time
with her family and more time volunteering in the community.
The business was wonderful,” Fowler said. “It
just became too busy, too fast.”
“We had a lot of people look at the business but this
seemed to fit the best,” Fowler said. Courchesne was
“handpicked,” she said. She’s going to
carry all the same chocolates and fudge.
Glass display cases of chocolate line the left side of The
Bud Connection as customers walk in. The fudge case is to
the right.
Courchesne bought the business, which includes the Web site
chocolatebarn.com.
Fowler said she will lease or sell the Oak Street property
that had housed the candy shop.
Fowler’s Maine Needhams, which she has sold to Teri
Sargent Smith, will be available at the Bud Connection as
well. Smith is part owner of Sargent Real Estate.
Fowler has trained Courchesne and her staff and will help
out on Valentine’s Day.
Courchesne already has a strategy for the big chocolate
and flower holiday. She has hired a “door hostess”
who will guide people where they need to go depending on
whether they have pre-ordered or are “completely baffled,”
Courchesne said.
The Bud Connection will deliver chocolates with flowers
or chocolates alone.
The shop is open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday
and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Courchesne said she will probably be open Feb. 10, which
is the Sunday before Valentine’s Day.
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