Feb. 24—A building under renovation near downtown Aiken soon will be the home of a shop selling fine Belgian chocolates.

Plans also call for the office of a real estate firm based in the Charleston area to be located in the structure.

In addition, there is room for another business.

"I decided to give it a new look, a fresh look," said entrepreneur David Meunier, who purchased the 2,576-square-foot building on Chesterfield Street South for $240,000 two years ago.

The sellers were Evelyn Kim Cato and Keith Lamar Cato, according to Aiken County land records.

"It was an eyesore, a little bit. That's what I like to do, take places that are not too good and improve them," Meunier said. "I do a lot of my buildings in Miami the same way. I like to dress them up with wood, mix wood with concrete to give them warmth."

Meunier doesn't believe he will have a problem finding a tenant for the unclaimed space in the structure.

"It's going to be rented in no time," he said. "I've gotten so many inquiries because of how the building looks."

The structure is next to Meunier's La Parisienne, a French restaurant and bakery that he launched in 2020.

Meunier also owns La Bourgogne Club de Polo on Coleman Bridge Road between Aiken and Wagener, and he has purchased a variety of other properties locally in recent years.

The chocolate shop in the refurbished Chesterfield Street building will be called La Bonbonnière and is scheduled to make its debut in March.

The owner, Bebette Smith, also operates a La Bonbonnière store in Augusta at 231 Furys Ferry Road, Suite 206B.

She founded her handmade chocolate business in Georgia in 2005 after graduating from the Wieze Chocolate Academy in Belgium.

Smith, who was born and raised in Belgium, also has attended numerous workshops for chocolatiers in her native land and the U.S.

"My chocolates will continue to be made in Augusta, and then they will be brought to Aiken just to sell," Smith said.

She decided to establish a South Carolina branch of La Bonbonnière because the Aiken residents who visited her shop asked her to do so.

"Many times, I heard people say, 'Why don't you open in Aiken?'" Smith said.

She met Meunier because he was a customer.

One day, Smith recalled, they had the following conversation:

"He said, 'You know I have a place for you if you want to open in Aiken,' and he said, 'I bet you it would work.' I said, 'Okay.'"

To begin with, the operating hours for La Bonbonnière in Aiken probably will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

"Aiken is a weekend place," Smith said. "People take walks then. They also shop, go to restaurants and do things like that."

For more information, visit labonbonniereaugusta.com or the La Bonbonnière, Augusta, Ga., page on Facebook.