Shameless Chocoholic relocates to downtown Bettendorf

Rebecca Burns has found a sweet way to celebrate Bettendorf’s 120th birthday with a grand opening of her relocated Shameless Chocoholic store in the city’s downtown.   After years in downtown Moline on River Drive, Shameless Chocoholic now has opened and moved its candy making to a renovated storefront at 2248 State St., Bettendorf. The shop […]

Rebecca Burns has found a sweet way to celebrate Bettendorf’s 120th birthday with a grand opening of her relocated Shameless Chocoholic store in the city’s downtown.   After years in downtown Moline on River Drive, Shameless Chocoholic now has opened and moved its candy making to a renovated storefront at 2248 State St., Bettendorf. The shop will celebrate its new home by joining the city’s birthday celebration on Friday, June 2.  “People used to tell me all the time I should be ashamed of myself because I made such decadent treats,” Ms. Burns told the QCBJ.   It was that encouragement that led her to first launch Shameless Chocoholic back in 2013. She joked how she had to open a shop “because I can’t sing, dance or draw, but I can cook.” 

Ms. Burns actually got into the sweets business in 2001, operating 10 years with the Old Fashioned Candy Co. in LeClaire (in what now is Dwellings). She later moved twice to other storefronts in LeClaire located within blocks of her original store.  “We outgrew the space,” she said, adding that the next move was to expand and relocate to Moline Centre, the downtown commercial district. But when her business partner retired with medical concerns, Ms. Burns said the Illinois location became too expensive. Now settled into her new downtown Bettendorf store, Shameless Chocoholic maintains its LeClaire store at the corner of Cody Road and Wisconsin Street.  She would have wanted to stay in Moline, “but the State of Illinois’ taxes are ridiculous,” she insists. Ms. Burns said that her quarterly unemployment tax increased from $150 to $800. Technically, her new downtown Bettendorf location marks the fifth location for Shameless Chocoholic. Located near Bettendorf’s State and 23rd streets intersection, she is enjoying that the store has customer parking right at the door.  But meeting some city ordinance minimums took her six weeks to complete before she finally opened in late March – ahead of the Easter and Mother’s Day shopping seasons.  When it comes to marketing, Ms. Burns plans to invest in some downtown billboards. But she’s also had people drive by, see the word “fudge” on the window, and drive around the block to get their chocolate fix. Another reason she loves her new location is that it offers plenty of room in the kitchen to give her chocolate classes. “We’re starting the History and Origins of Chocolate, including taste testing from around the cocoa belt, which is the equator.”  Chocolate connoisseurs will be allowed to bring a bottle of wine to help them forge their path, she said. Another class in the works will be “Cake-pops.” In Bettendorf, Ms. Burns has two employees who work in the kitchen, a third who does packaging, and another two for serving customers and working the front counter. Her LeClaire shop employs three workers. She plans to expand her merchandising to include T-shirts that she can produce right on the site, saving money and giving customers their size immediately.  Ms. Burns also is adjusting her chocolate recipe as more people are scrutinizing their sugar intake, so soon she’ll be incorporating sugar-free confections. But her chocolate is gaining so much popularity that she hopes to be opening a third store out at the TBK Bank Sports Complex, Bettendorf, by the end of the year. She expects that location to do very well.  “I think people who visit TBK come with expendable income for their kids and sports,” she added. Like any true success story, Ms. Burns has a passion for her work. “Chocolate runs in my veins!” she laughs. “Mom was a health nut and growing up we ate carob. I wasn’t allowed chocolate, so I blame it on my mom that I’m now a chocolatier.” There is no cure for her addiction, but after 20 years she’s not ashamed of it.