Ghirardelli Opens First NYC Store on Ground Floor of the Empire State Building
The newest Ghirardelli store is located at 16 W. 34th St., and sells chocolate and ice cream from one of the city’s biggest tourist draws: the Empire State Building.
| 30 Aug 2024 | 01:45
Ghirardelli opened its first New York City location this summer, at the bottom of the Empire State Building. (
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Ghirardelli sells a wide variety of individually wrapped chocolate squares at the New York City store. (
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The World Famous Hot Fudge Sundae is a “fan favorite” item, according to Vice President of Ghirardelli Restaurant & Retail and Digital Commerce Lacey Zane. (
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There is comfortable seating available at Ghirardelli’s new location, allowing for a respite from the chaos of New York City’s streets. (
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It feels as though every major food chain has a location in New York City—often a large one, at that. Times Square has its McDonald’s, Madison Square Park is the home of the flagship Shake Shack, and there are Dunkin’ and Starbucks locations seemingly on every-other-block.
Yet, the popular chocolate store chain Ghirardelli just opened its first New York location, the Ghirardelli Chocolate & Ice Cream shop located right at the bottom of the Empire State Building.
“Our new Ghirardelli Chocolate & Ice Cream shop in New York is a big moment for our brand,” wrote Lacey Zane, Vice President of Ghirardelli Restaurant & Retail and Digital Commerce. “Having the opportunity to open our shop in the Empire State Building was a wonderful chance to bring two icons together to continue to delight visitors.”
Located at 16 W 34th St., the store itself is relatively large for a New York City chocolate and ice cream shop (but seemingly smaller than the likes of the Hershey’s Chocolate Store in Times Square). Sleek and modern, the shop certainly fits the vibe of the Empire State Building’s aesthetic.
One shopper, Luis Alvarez, described the new outlet as “very modern, but classical.”
“I like the look of it,” said another shopper, Brooke Jones. “I think it’d be nice with some greenery. But other than that, it looks really nice.”
As for the offerings, the chocolate shop part of the location has a large selection of the popular individually wrapped Ghirardelli chocolate squares sold in stores, with various flavors ranging from the standard Milk Chocolate to the likes of Milk Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel and White Chocolate Sugar Cookie.
Larger chocolate bars and novelty items such as a pack of chocolate squares in a toy trolley car are available in containers around the retail area as well.
“I’ve always tried the chocolate [sold] here, and it’s really good, and I saw this opened up, so I was interested,” said Alvarez. “We have a wedding coming up soon, so we want to ... see what the options are here.”
Alvarez is not the only customer at the new shop familiar with the Ghirardelli brand, according to Zane.
“While it was no surprise that we’d welcome a wonderful mix of tourists and locals in the new shop, we’ve been pleasantly surprised with the number of new brand fans we’ve had visit the store,” Zane said.
The new Ghirardelli shop is not just a chocolate retail location, though—it’s an ice cream parlor as well. This was what drew Jones in.
“We just really wanted ice cream,” she said. “And apparently this place is really good.”
Zane reported that the World Famous Hot Fudge Sundae “continues to be a fan favorite” at this new location. Other ice cream treats sold include the Cookie Crumble Hot Fudge Sundae and the Caramel Quake Shake, among several others.
Aside from the delicious chocolate and ice cream, the store provides a quiet respite in one of New York City’s most popular tourist sites. There is plenty of seating, with barstools and a counter placed in front of large glass windows, booths, and longer tables with chairs filling up a whole corner of the store.
“The Empire State Building sees thousands of tourists a day, so we’ve been able to introduce many travelers to Ghirardelli,” wrote Zane. Earlier, she added, “We are thrilled with the excitement we’ve experienced thus far and look forward to the future.”