Candymaker Halletts opens downtown

Life just got a little darker, but sweeter in downtown Spokane.

Halletts Chocolates – a longtime candy maker in the region – last week opened a new outlet in the historic Hale Building at 227 W. Riverside Ave.

It will offer fresh chocolates, truffles, ripples and its specialty soft peanut butter crunch made by hand at their factory store at 1419 E. Holyoke Ave. In all, the business makes and sells over 100 varieties of its own candy.

Initially, the move is supposed to be temporary. The owners signed a four-month lease to operate the downtown outlet through Valentine’s Day.

“If it does really well, we’ll do it long-term,” said Kitty Kane, one of the owners.

She and her other family member owners were seeking a location downtown that had good foot traffic to allow them to expand their clientele from the existing store that’s tucked away on two side streets near Francis Avenue and Nevada Street.

The Hale Block, erected in 1905, seemed like the right location, partly because the shop is fairly small at 1,000 square feet, which holds down the amount of square footage they have to pay for, she said.

“We’ve been looking since last year for a place that’s not too big and has decent traffic,” she said.

The building was renovated as part of ConoverBond Development’s mixed-use project on the block bounded by Riverside, Browne, Sprague and Bernard. The historic redevelopment is known as Havermale Park. Halletts moved into a space previously occupied by ComedySportz.

As a business, Halletts Chocolates traces back to the 1970s when Cy and Tom Hallett and family members branched out from a berry farm at Otis Orchards to sell fruit gift boxes during the off season. Later they opened a candy factory, deli and store in an old RV park at Liberty Lake.

As the business expanded, the Halletts opened the outlet on the North Side, which was purchased three years ago by Kitty Kane; her sisters, Kristy and Kari Kane; and their mother, Patty Kane.

Customers already travel from across the area to buy candy at the North Side store, which has more than 2,500 names on its customer mailing list.

Like the Halletts, the Kanes are continuing the family candy-making tradition. Kari Kane heads that part of the business.

Kitty Kane said the store on Holyoke provides Halletts candy for one remaining Hallett family-owned outlet – Halletts Market & Cafe at 14109 E. Sprague Ave.

“It’s a great product,” Kitty Kane said of the candy. “I don’t mind eating it myself.”