In Malcolm Gladwell’s bestseller, “Outliers: The Story of Success,” the author posits a theory that excellence is attained by spending at least 10,000 hours dedicated to a particular effort. For some, that number might seem daunting, but not for Elena Macris, who has been working around chocolate since she was a small child.
“I began when I was around 10 years old,” she said. “For a few hours after school, when we were on break, we would work in our retail store located about 45 minutes north of Pittsburgh.”
Elena’s mother, who ran the store, would pay her and her brother an allowance to lend a hand. “We grew up in a good environment where you learned the meaning of hard work, and, if you wanted to accomplish something, you had to put effort into it,” she said.
That work ethic is paying off. Opened just a few months ago in the West Shore Plaza in Lemoyne, Macris Chocolates already is growing in popularity as word spreads about the array of edible delights available at her shop.
In the Beginning
Elena, who is a third-generation chocolatier, tells the story of how it all began.
“My grandfather and his brothers emigrated here from Greece,” she said. “He started out as a furrier in New York before joining his brothers in purchasing a small candy store in western Pennsylvania.”
That was back in 1919.
“They learned the craft from Greek friends in the community,” she continued. “Over the years, they attended various chocolate and candy schools, as well.”
Although their store was located in western Pennsylvania, they called their line “Philadelphia Candies” to connote that they were “Chocolates Made with Brotherly Love.” To this day, Elena marvels at how the Greek community knew so much about chocolate making.
“It’s kind of a mystery, since there aren’t a lot of chocolate places in Greece,” she said with a chuckle.
Her grandfather passed the business down to her father, and, today, the family operates two retail locations—one in Hermitage and another in Canfield, Ohio.
Eastward, Ho
After Elena graduated college, she worked at the family business for a few years before deciding the time was right to branch out on her own and open a “sister location,” as she prefers to call it.
“I studied this area for about a year and talked to different business owners,” she said. “I also spoke to tenants and friends who lived here. After traveling here, I realized there was a need and found a really good real estate agent.”
She decided on a location near Karns in Lemoyne, and, by October of 2013, everything was up and running at the 2,000-square-foot store.
Inside, customers can choose from among 100 different varieties of chocolates designed to appeal to even the pickiest sweet tooth. No order is too small, so even those on a diet can drop in and select just a few. “It’s all sold by weight,” she said.
And, because she receives shipments of items like caramels, nougats and nuts roasted at her home factory four times a week, you can be sure that everything is fresh.
“We try to keep everything standard to maintain consistency. For instance, we get huge apricots from a vendor in California. We won’t change that. When my father finds a supplier he likes, he sticks with them. If you change one little ingredient, you can taste the difference.”
For those interested in a hostess gift, it’s hard to go wrong, and Elena will be happy to wrap your purchase in an elegant package.
To keep abreast of what’s new in the chocolate world, she often travels to food shows. “Spices are becoming more popular now,” she said.
Current customer favorites at the Lemoyne store include sea salt caramels and peanut butter truffles. Her “signature piece,” a buttercream coated in nuts and chocolate called the “Croquette,” is also selling well. Personalized eggs and bunnies were big hits during the recent Easter season, which followed a busy Valentine’s Day when chocolate-coated, long-stemmed, California strawberries seemed to fly off the shelves.
Despite the harsh winter, business has been good, according to Elena, who started with two employees and now has six.
Customer Jenny Myers said, “I like how classy her place is and the fact that everything is made from scratch. It has such an elegant, boutique feel. She puts her heart into it, and it’s gorgeous.”
The Mechanicsburg resident favors the sea salt caramels, but her daughters Katelyn and Emily, ages 16 and 13, love the chocolate-covered potato chips. Her 11-year-old son Parker enjoys the chocolate-covered pretzels.
Myers, who owns a beauty salon in Mechanicsburg, said she likes purchasing gifts with a personal touch. “She has hundreds of molds and made chocolate hair dryers and scissors for my staff. She’ll work with you to personalize your gifts,” she said.
Camp Hill resident Dina Clarke works at Macris and said she loves it.
“I retired from radio and never missed getting up at 3 a.m.,” she said. “When my daughter went to college, I decided to do something different. It’s so elegant, and I love to see people leave smiling. It’s just a fun place to work.”
Macris Chocolates is open Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.macrischocolates.com or call 717-412-7129.
