More room for chocolate: Charlotte wine and chocolate tasting room gets a bigger home
There’s always room for more chocolate.
A familiar Park Road building will become a new, larger home for wine and chocolate tasting room Petit Philippe next summer, when its owners move from its Charlotte home of ten years in Myers Park.
Petit’s owners Mark Meissner and Casey Hickey bought the building at 4001 Park Road, a 4,960 square foot building that is 2,000 square feet bigger than its current location. The Selwyn Avenue spot will stay open until the move in Summer 2022.
Our goal has always been to own the building that houses our business,” Meissner said in a statement. “We’ve been on the lookout for years but finding the right single-occupancy building has been a challenge.”
Petit Philippe’s new home will be at the corner of Park and Reece Roads, in a building built in 1962 that has always housed a dry cleaner: Originally, Coachman Cleaners and more recently, Park Road Quick Cleaners.
A wine cellar
Bonus offering: Wine storage. The new building has a lower level that is dimly lit with temperature that naturally doesn’t fluctuate much, Hickey said. The couple will install more climate controls. “The cellar’s cave-like quality gives us a head start.”
The owners also plan to use the lower level as an event space, for exclusive winemaker dinners, wine education and regular wine storage client tastings.
The architect is Sean DeLapp, a principal at WGM Design. “Whenever possible, the updates we make will be true to the era,” Hickey said. “We intend to preserve the building’s design and character and put a modern spin to the mid-century vibe that already exists.” The building’s exposed steel trusses, concrete floors, a sloped roof and deep overhang will be preserved.
Petit Philippe will also add outdoor seating and coffee service in the new location.
“We get to stay in this neighborhood we love and expand our wine and chocolate businesses,” Hickey said. “There’s more retail space, more space to enjoy a glass or flight of wine and – the thing we might be most excited about — an exquisite, underground space for special events.”
Twenty Degrees Chocolates, Hickey’s 500-square-foot “jewel box” spot in South End, will stay open.
Petit Philippe
Current location: 2820 Selwyn Ave #160, Charlotte, NC 28209
Neighborhood: Myers Park
Future location 4001 Park Rd, Charlotte, NC 28209
Neighborhood: Montford
Opening date: Summer 2022
Instagram: @petitphilippe
Twenty Degrees Chocolates
Location: 1930 Camden Rd Suite 135, Charlotte, NC 28203
Neighborhood: South End
Instagram: @twentydegreeschocolates
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