For nearly 55 years, The C Shop has been handmaking chocolate Easter bunnies that are delivered to candy baskets from Birch Bay to Norway every spring.
The tradition started shortly after 1971, when co-founders Patricia and Patrick Alesse opened The C Shop. Patricia began making a white chocolate bunny out of the original candy shop, now Jacob’s Landing Condominiums, before the Alesses moved to The C Shop’s familiar yellow building on Alderson Road.
While much of the world around The C Shop has changed, its chocolate bunnies have remained a constant over the past five decades.
Chocolatier Molly Martin said the Birch Bay candy shop uses the same bunny molds from the ’70s and sticks to largely the same process, with slight improvements made throughout the years.
“They’re handmade and the old-time look is special,” Martin said.
In the weeks leading up to Easter, Martin sorts through hundreds of bunny molds in the candy shop’s attic, finding both classics and new options. She then embarks on an Easter escapade that requires 500 hours of labor among all chocolatiers.
Her crew includes candy maker Faye Alesse, who is taking on the legacy that Alesse’s grandparents started. Alesse grew up watching the community culture they built, from Patricia holding an annual celebration where she broke the largest bunny with a hammer to the couple remembering the names of everyone who visited the shop.
“It’s a fun tradition,” Alesse said of the chocolate bunnies. “It’s something we’re known for.”
This year, the shop made about 550 chocolate Easter bunnies using about a dozen molds — from the bestseller 8-ounce bunny to a customizable 60-ounce bunny.
The C Shop used 700 pounds of chocolate for its Easter treats this year, sourcing it from Guittard Chocolate Co. in California.
In a time of waning handmade chocolate Easter bunnies, Martin said The C Shop offers attention to detail at a larger scale than can be found nearby. Everything is still done by hand, from the washing and polishing of molds to adding sugar flower details.
A team of about five chocolatiers opens the shop five hours before customers arrive, lining up at their stations. Each person is assigned a task: Prepare the molds, fill them with chocolate, cool the chocolate and package the bunnies.
“Someone spent a lot of time looking at the bunny, making sure it’s ready for the customer,” Martin said. “It’s a labor of love.”
Customers have a two-week window to pick up bunnies and candy during a time when the shop is otherwise closed for the season. Most of the bunnies go into local gift baskets, while other Whatcom County residents ship the bunnies around the world — from New York to Alaska, and some as far as Norway.
Easter is the first time the candy shop opens its doors after Christmas, and marks an unofficial signal that its busiest season is on the horizon with the shop opening on weekends starting Mother’s Day weekend and weekdays starting Father’s Day weekend.
“They usually always stick their head in and say, ‘It’s the first time I’ve seen you open since Christmas,’” Martin said of customers. “It’s the reunion of the community.”
