Boxborough's Two Friends Chocolates to open storefront in town

Best friends since their first day of college in India, Lala Selvaraj and her business partner Neethu Viswanath started Two Friends Chocolates as an online business several years ago. Operating out of Canada and Boxborough, they now plan to open a brick and mortar shop on Massachusetts Avenue in Boxborough, inside the Middlesex Bank plaza, in the fall.

Selvaraj recently discussed how the pandemic affected the business and the excitement over opening a storefront in her hometown of Boxborough.

Boxborough resident goes from engineer to chocolatier

Did the pandemic challenge your business in any way? If so, how did you overcome it?

Like most other small businesses, the pandemic did hit us badly. Our wholesale distribution for the year was lower than the previous year. However, we were able to overcome and move forward by focusing and developing our online presence and offering to dropship the orders directly to all neighboring towns. We are fortunate to have an amazing neighborhood that is hugely supportive to small businesses . We cannot thank our wonderful neighbors at Acton/Boxborough for their warm support during this tough time. 

What made you decide to open an in-person store? When do you expect to open?

Prior to the pandemic, we did not intend to have a retail front at our new production studio. Our friends at Boxborough and nearby towns were our major support factor during the pandemic. And we were often asked about options to pick up our chocolates. So we decided to have a retail front open where our customers can drop by to pick up their orders or browse through our collections or create custom chocolates for their events, We hope to open the store this Fall, prior to the holidays.

How will your store differ from the online version in terms of offerings? Will you be making the candy there?

Our online store only includes products that can be shipped out. From our storefront, our customers will be able to pick up handcrafted seasonal novelties and other specialty chocolates alongside our collections available online. We will be crafting our chocolates inhouse and we are also looking to hold chocolate workshops and interactive chocolate  sessions at our new studio.

Will you still have the online store as well?

Yes, the online store will continue as is. The retail front will be a new addition to our current business.

What are you most excited about with opening a store in Boxborough?

We have always been a Boxborough based business. Boxborough is a community driven town and we couldn't be happier to live in and run a business here. We love the neighborhood and are delighted to have received such warm and awesome support at all times. It is very exciting for us to open our doors for our town and begin another new journey.

To learn more, visit www.twofriendschocolates.com.