This fall, students need look no further than 34th Street for their chocolate fix.
The popular chocolatier Naked Chocolate Cafe will open a store at 34th and Walnut streets in September. The cafe will replace University Jewelers, which closed in May of this year.
"I've always wanted to open up over in University City," said the cafe's founding owner Tom Block, "It's going to be a smaller space than we have now, but . I am excited about going out there."
Block said that while plans for this particular store began about four months ago, he had wanted to open a store in the area since the original boutique was unveiled at 1317 Walnut Street in September 2006.
"The space was offered to us and I loved it," he said.
Penn's Executive Director of Real Estate Ed Datz said that Naked Chocolate - a "casual and cafe-type experience on campus" - is the perfect addition to the area.
An additional Naked Chocolate Cafe will open on 18th and Chestnut streets in October.
But for now, Block is enthusiastic about the store's future on Penn's campus.
"We're hoping we'll get a very positive response from the students and the entire community out there," he said.
