Godiva to close all stores, including seven in Bay Area - SF Gate

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Chocolatier Godiva is closing all of its Northern American stories, including seven locations around the Bay Area.

The mass closure affects 128 stores in the U.S. and Canada, although its outposts in Europe, the Middle East and China will remain open. The closures will be completed by March, as the stores are expected to stay open during the lucrative Valentine's Day season.

The news comes less than two years after Godiva's planned expansion of 2,000 cafes around the globe by 2025. Americans won't be short on Godiva chocolates, though. The products will continue to be sold online, in grocery stores and other retailers that carry their products.

In a statement, Godiva said in-person shopping "waned as a result of the pandemic," which hastened the "acceleration of changes in consumers’ shopping behavior." Many of its retail locations were inside shopping malls.

The Bay Area locations closing are:

Livermore: San Francisco Premium Outlets
Palo Alto: Stanford Shopping Center
Pleasanton: Stoneridge Mall
San Francisco: Stonestown Galleria
San Francisco: San Francisco Center
Santa Clara: Westfield Valley Fair Mall
Walnut Creek: Broadway Plaza

The company, founded in Belgium in the 1920s, was acquired by Turkish company Yıldız Holding in 2007. Godiva is headquartered in New York City, with its two factories in Brussels and Reading, Penn.

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