Seattle, WAChocolatiers and Candy Shops

Fran Bigelow's chocolate company, a Seattle chocolate institution for more than four decades, keeps a downtown shop on First Avenue just south of Pike Place Market. Bigelow set out to bring more chocolate flavor to her candies after a trip to France in the late 1960s, and one of her goals has been to introduce children to darker chocolate. Her own favorites are the peanut butter cup and the coconut Gold Bar, something like an Almond Joy crossed with a Mounds bar. Order a Gold Bar and a peanut butter cup.

An artisanal chocolate shop in Pike Place Market's MarketFront, on Western Avenue at the top of the Overlook Walk, where single-origin dark chocolate is the specialty. Beyond the bars, the shelves hold cocoa butter lotions and other body care, teas and spices, and gift sets that bundle them, and chocolate-making classes are offered for the budding chocolatier. Order a single-origin dark chocolate bar.

A bean-to-bar chocolate maker that brothers Kelly and Chris Van Arsdale opened in 2021, now with its shop and factory on Stone Way North. Spinnaker takes the shell off the cacao and lightly roasts only the nibs, for a creamy chocolate without the bitterness often tied to dark chocolate, and each bar is made to show off the flavors of its cacao crop. Order a 70 percent dark bar.

A Ballard Avenue candy shop that Randy Brinker opened after the small neighborhood store where he stocked up on candy closed, naming it after his granny, Mickey. It sells homemade fudge alongside bulk candy, and for Brinker the shop is as much about the neighborhood as the sweets. Order a slab of homemade fudge.

A University Village candy store that owner Kristi Holmes joined as an employee before buying it in 2001. Glass jars on display tables hold chocolates, jelly beans and gummies, and Holmes's own picks include the chocolate-covered pretzels and the caramel balls. Order a bag of chocolate-covered pretzels.