North Chocolate has officially opened its store in Yellowknife, turning its co-founders’ dream into a reality.
When Yassine Riahi and Hamza El Ghazlani launched the company as a home-based business in 2024, they were already planning to one day expand into a retail space.
Hundreds of customers packed the new storefront on Saturday as North Chocolate opened its doors. Located at 308 Woolgar Avenue, the store is open daily from 10am to 7pm.
After securing the lease for the location in December, El Ghazlani said the duo spent months designing a new interior, sourcing furniture and decor – both locally and from Edmonton – and painting the space themselves.
He said more than 500 customers were served in the store’s opening two days.
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The shop’s 14 gelato flavours sold out within an hour of the 2pm grand opening on April 18. Staff prepared additional batches but those, too, were gone by the evening.
Of seven cookie flavours, he said Dubai chocolate and red velvet proved to be the most popular.
El Ghazlani said the sheer volume of customers “means a lot to us.”
“We just want to thank Yellowknife about all the support and love they showed us,” he told Cabin Radio.
“When we saw the people smiling and very happy, and tasting our gelato and chocolate and giving us good feedback – that was a big thing for us.”
