Purdys Chocolatier says the buy Canadian movement has generated so much demand for its products that it decided to sell them outside its own stores for the first time in its 118-year history.
The Vancouver-based confectionary company’s products can now be found on the shelves of Save-On-Foods, a western Canadian grocer.
It was inspired to make the leap because of the wave of patriotism U.S. President Donald Trump sparked when he started threatening Canada with hefty tariffs at the start of the year.
“Since about January, we really noticed … people either remembered that we are a Canadian brand and always have been or were interested in learning more about Canadian brands and how they could support Canadian companies through that uncertain time,” said Kriston Dean, vice-president of marketing and sales at Purdys.
Their interest manifested in a more than 200 per cent increase in traffic to Purdys website and a whopping 300 per cent spike in searches about whether the brand is Canadian.
Those searchers found the company began when entrepreneur Richard Carmon Purdy moved from London, Ont., to Vancouver and started tinkering with candy making. By 1907, he had opened his first chocolate shop at 915 Robson St.
Purdys now has dozens of stores and a wide array of chocolate products manufactured at a B.C. facility.
Through much of its recent history, Purdys mulled whether it was time to sell its chocolates through other retailers but never pursued the avenue because it was “very committed” to its own stores, Dean said.
This year’s push to support domestic businesses challenged that thinking, especially when Easter delivered a 25 per cent increase in new customers compared with the year before.
“We obviously cannot be in every community across the country and so (we were thinking) how could we give more options to more Canadians who were looking for Canadian options?” Dean said.
The company realized a grocer was a logical fit and soon after brokered a deal with Pattison Food Group.
Now shoppers at 131 of its Save-On-Foods locations can purchase chocolate bars in mint, peanut butter and salted butter toffee flavours.
Also on offer are the brand’s hedgehogs — a Purdys chocolate treat dating back to the early 90s that is shaped like the animal and filled with a hazelnut gianduja centre.
While the quartet is only making a limited-time appearance at Save-On-Foods and the chain’s footprint is mostly confined to B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Yukon, Dean said Purdys sees the arrangement as “a stepping stone."
“We are looking to see how successful this is and if customers continue to want this product in their grocery environments, we will be looking for more partners into the future,” she said.
