Kilwin’s Grand Rapids owners Julie and Tim Calderone just did not see it coming.
“It was a water pipe in the ceiling,” says Julie Calderone, who opened the downtown Grand Rapids chocolate kitchen at 146 Monroe Center St. NW just four years ago on the ground floor of the historic McKay Towers.
“We had pipes literally freeze in the ceiling, so when they ruptured, all of the water from McKay Towers came flooding in and we lost everything,” she says. “Walls, ceiling, floors — everything.”
It’s taken a few months to complete renovations on the 2,210-square-foot retail space, but Kilwin’s is back in business — this time boasting some upgraded interior fixtures and more hand-made confections to choose from than ever before.
The revamped Kilwin’s will still carry the same breadth of Tillman’s property products they have in the past, only now Calderone says they’ve doubled the store’s fudge selection and allocated more floorspace for their “fudge window,” where customers can look in and watch expert artisans making signature Mackinac Island Fudge on a new 1,100-lb. marble table.
She says business has really taken off again since Kilwin’s June 30 reopening, partially attributed to their four-month absence, but also, she says, to a very productive convention season in downtown Grand Rapids.
“Anytime Grand Rapids does something to bring people downtown we do better as a business, so we’re always appreciative of that,” she says. “We’ve just had a really nice welcome back from the community,” Calderone says. “I think the community missed their sweet treats.”
Kilwin’s downtown Grand Rapids location is currently open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and on Sundays from noon to 8 p.m., but hours change seasonally, so visit www.kilwins.com for more information.
Written by Anya Zentmeyer, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of Julie Calderone
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