I can vouch for the Chocolate Covered store in San Francisco.  Jack Epstein is the owner and he seems to know everything about every bar he carries.  I travel to SF once monthly and he always seems to have a bar I haven't  tried.  If I told you what I spend on chocolate in that shop you'd have a heart attack.

 

I have been scanning the chocolate industry again here in North America, and after the rapid launch of numerous bean-to-bar chocolate businesses has come a wave of new retailers (in store and online) selling large selections of bean-to-bar chocolate, as well as chocolate-of-the-month clubs popping up all over the place.  I have put them all in a list here:  http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.ca/2015/07/list-of-specialty-retailers-of-craft.html. Admittedly, my U.K., Europe and Asia, etc. sections are sparse, and I am likely missing a few in North America - so if you know of others, please let me know and I'll get them added!  And if you have been thinking about this new wave of retailers, I'd love to hear some discussion on it! Jeffrey Stern's article on LinkedIn came at the right time while I was researching this, making me wonder what direction the industry will go in: specialty retailers or mass supply of craft chocolate at national chains? Or both?

 

For the very popular list of U.S. bean-to-bar craft chocolate makers, click here .

 

For the Canadian list of bean-to-bar craft chocolate makers, click here .

 

Lists for other parts of the world coming soon!