Shop owner retires into a sweet deal
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Steve Prickett retired from Merrill Lynch in June and, without missing a beat, opened his handcrafted Eldora Chocolate shop soon after.
Prickett says the 2,000-squarefoot store on Edith just south of El Pueblo is the only “bean-to-bar” chocolatier in Albuquerque.
It’s a labor of love for Prickett, who says he has always loved dark chocolate and wanted to make all-natural, fair trade products with no preservatives after learning how to do so while on a trip to Hawaii.
Eldora — named for wife Andrea Prickett’s grandmother — gets beans from Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Tanzania, Venezuela and, most recently, Mexico.
Prickett roasts the beans in his shop, puts them through a refiner and transforms the resulting liquid into a variety of products, including truffles and bars that go as high as 100 percent cacao.
But if you’re not that much of a purist, you can also get your chocolate mixed with a 10-spice mole, tart cherry, or pumpkin spice — one of the current bestsellers, Prickett says.
Prices include: $2.75 for a truffle; $4 for a chocolate square and $7 for a bar with “added inclusions,” or ingredients. Products are also sold online at eldorachocolate.com.
Eldora Chocolate, 8114 Edith NE, is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. It’s closed Sunday and Monday. The store can be reached at 505-4334076.
Slowing down
Longtime Albuquerque businessman Pat Romero says it’s time to slow down.
Romero, owner of The Fruit Basket of Albuquerque, is shutting down his location near 12th and Candelaria NW at the end of the month. However, the store near Fourth and Osuna
NW will remain open, he said.
Romero and his family have been in business for 30 years, but he’s 76 now, and “it’s time for me to scale back.”
He said that although “it’s hard to compete with chain stores,” he found that he was, in