First of all, ignore their competitor on Willard Drive or spend your money there at your own risk. After a bad experience on Willard Drive, which was the first and will be the last, we were compelled to find another chocolatier in Green Bay so we could purchase a gift for a relative. It was fortuitous that when we returned to our hotel I opened the guest notebook to find a piece of writing paper and the BEERNTSEN CANDIES ad was staring right at me. We wrote the address down and headed straight there with determined resolve.

The store is located in the older part of Green Bay that is in its regentrification period of development. This is when a business area that has been allowed to deteriorate and borders low income housing is attempting to make a comeback with urban renewal monies. It's working in this part of North Broadway. We found the storefront in a modern one story building with plentiful parking and learned that the business had been in existence for almost a hundred years but they had been in the current location for about 18 yrs.

We had expected to find a modern sterile atmosphere with very bright lighting and wide aisles that were bordered by metal shelves stacked high with cellophane wrapped boxes. Instead, we found the charm of the old time candy store but without the tacky schmultzy decor that is used to try to reproduce the "good ol' days". The glass free-standing four shelf high displays were tastefully positioned and stocked, and they provided us an immediate view of boxed chocolates, bagged candies, and assorted small gift items and curios. It all screamed to loosen the purse strings and buy, buy, buy.

There was a long glass display case on the back wall and a short one on the side wall. Both were very clean and well lit so that we could see that they were packed with numerous different candies and chocolates. The pleasant aroma that wafted throughout came from the back prep area where a kindly older woman was working on the forbidden fruit of the health and weight conscious.

The lady greeted us politely and encouraged us to try a sample or two. I mistakenly bit into a large caramel (hate caramel, sorry) but she said not to worry and asked what kind I liked. I soon had a large "meltaway" in hand and it was deeeelicious. We talked to her as we browsed and she told us a lot about the choices we had, the history of the store, and also invited us to sign the guestbook.

We had planned to spend about $10 but put down a $20 bill plus change. We could easily have hit the $50+ mark but took turns dragging each other to the door before chocolate guilt was beaten to a pulp by chocolate desire. The meltaways, truffles and box of assorted chocolates that we took home were excellent.

A far different and better experience than we had at the unmentionable locale in the concrete mall on Willard. The dark cloud that befell us there led us to the silver, gold and dark chocolate linings at BEERNTSEN CANDIES!