Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/753030
68 S C T / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 S T O R E F R O N T S R oyce Confect Co. is said to produce some of the world's choicest chocolate. So perhaps it is only fitting that the Hokkaido, Japan–based chocolate maker has also opened stores in some of the choicest U.S. retail locations. The company, founded in 1983, initially sold wares by mail order. It opened its first U.S. store on New York City's Madison Avenue in December 2012. Today the company operates three stores in New York's borough of Manhattan, plus one at the Grand Canal Shops, in Las Vegas, and a boutique shop inside the Mitsuwa Marketplace, in Edgewater, N.J. Though the company is otherwise reticent about plans for future stores and about real estate requirements, it currently operates not just in Japan and the U.S. but also throughout Asia and in Canada, as well as in Australia, the Mideast and Russia. The product is pampered from start to finish. Nama chocolates, the signature product, are made unique partly by a single ingredient: Hokkaido cream, according to Ken Romaniszyn, managing director and owner of Royce Confect USA. And Hokkaido has the perfect climate and clean air, he says, both of which are ideal for making confections. >> Royce Confect Co. is opening stores around the globe By Misty Milioto Hyper-local cuisine Japanese chocolatier Royce Confect Co. operates stores in top- notch, tourist-friendly locations in Las Vegas, New York City and New Jersey T alk about farm to table dining. At Federal Realty's Bethesda (Md.) Row, a sustainable rooftop farm provides hyper-local produce for the mixed-use center's Jaleo Bethesda restaurant. The restaurant's culinary director Ramon Martinez says the rooftop greens give his dishes a delicious, sustainable difference. Federal Realty worked with locally based UpTop Acres and Bethesda Green to create the rooftop garden. "The concept of roof to table is an innovative way to look at how we do buildings and how buildings interact with the community," said Federal Realty's sustainability manager Chris Brown. "It's taking sustainability to another level." On the rooftop, 6,400 square feet of garden space grows tens of thousands of pounds of produce annually, including beets, salad greens, herbs and tomatoes. The Rolls Royce of Chocolate