retail

For 40 years a modest family-owned business has been supplying folks in Washington DC with the treat no one dislikes – chocolate.

It was started in 1984 by sisters Frances and Ginger Park, daughters of a Korean immigrant. And their story is as appealing as the morsels they sell at their store, called Chocolate Chocolate.

In fact it’s their store’s atmosphere of family and community as much as it is the quality of their products that keeps people coming back for years.

Frances and Ginger also write books, especially children’s books. And in 2011 they wrote their own story, in a book called, appropriately enough, Chocolate Chocolate.

Get your copy of Frances & Ginger Park’s book

That’s when I met them – and, yes, happily sampled their products.

So here now, from 2011, Frances and Ginger Park.,

The Park sisters are now both in their 60s, and Chocolate Chocolate continues to thrive in Washington DC.

Today we’d probably call it a “side hustle.”

But that term had not yet been invented in 1951, when Lillian Vernon started a small mail order business from her kitchen table.

At that time she sold personalized purses and belts,targeting young women like her with ads in Seventeen magazine.

Born in Germany, she and her family fled to America in 1933, and she became an American citizen a few years later. As a 24-year-old housewife she started her business like so many do today, to bring in a few extra bucks.

And the business began to grow, eventually becoming one of the nations first and foremost direct mail retailers. You’ve probably gotten a Lillian Vernon catalog in the mail at some point over the years.

I met her in 1996 when Vernon wote a book called An Eye for Winners. So here now, from 1996, LillianVernon.

Lillian Vernon died in 2015. She was 88.

Now I've Heard Everything

A conversation with chocolatiers Frances & Ginger Park

Lillian Vernon

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