Maybe the air in Canada? j/k. No doubt they taste best the closer to the production site one gets them. The small tea store in my hometown still exists, and I would occasionally pick up a small box for my PIC and me to share in the hotel when we still had a reason to visit.
I’ve not been to the Berlin store yet. Too many other temptations local to the city 
Läderach in Toronto is good news! I remember buying their raspberry truffles from Dean and Deluca in DC., and being mightily impressed by them.
Is there still a Teuscher store in Toronto?
Yes, a small Teuscher kiosk operates inside the William Ashley shop inside the Colonnade on Bloor.
Really? They are nice at the end of that long meal, but I didn’t think they were “best”. Also, too much additional flavoring vs chocolate.
Agree on Leonidas change. There used to be a store near my place a few decades ago, and they were one of the few specialty chocolate places that had a sugar-free option for one of my family that tasted as good as regular. But there was a marked change in quality / flavor at some point.
There was a Teuscher store nearby as well, and their champagne truffles were a good way to bankrupt oneself every so often 
These days, Royce is very popular, with good reason. Surpised they haven’t been mentioned here yet in the commercial / available most places lists.
There are some very nice options in Seattle that now ship everywhere too. Fran’s, among others.
My Swiss relatives avoid Laderach for political reasons (I won’t go into details here but you can look it up if you’re interested). Their wares look very enticing (I come across them mostly in airports in the Middle East) but I also don’t buy because my ethics don’t align with the company’s.
Thanks for letting me know. I will look it up.
I already boycott Costco, Walmart, UberEats, Ritual, and DoorDash. I avoid Nestle. Happy to add more to my lists! LOL
Most of my chocolate is purchased at Soma in Toronto, which has a lot of Fairtrade options. The owner is a friend of several former Chowhounds.
Thx for bringing this to our attention. We came across a Läderach store in midtown when we were in the city last. My PIC liked it more than I did.
Definitely old school, good quality ingredients, well balanced, not over powering or too sweet. Sold them door to door as cub scout, or they pretty much sold themselves. Costco use to sell the $10 gift certificate for one pound. Current price of $32/lb is a bit of a shock but reasonable when comparing other boxed chocolates.
Lots of stories, like looking in an open box as a kid, some gone, and then picking one up, only to see someone else in the family pinched a hole in the bottom to see what it was. One year my mom screamed, use a knife and cut them in half. I think in high school finally memorized them on sight to avoid a dud….usually a crème or gooey thing.
None of See’s is bad, no white goop.
See’s doesn’t make a vanilla cream?
I like Vanilla Creams (also, Maple Creams and Coffee Creams). I know I have enjoyed See’s Coffee Creams or equivalent.
…
My Boomer uncle’s kids (born between 1983 and 1990) used to scratch holes into the bottom of the Laura Secord chocolates we sent, as well as See’s Creams. My aunt and uncle would put the chocolates on the table, when we visited them. They wouldn’t realize that their girls (or maybe they knew and didn’t care) had manhandled, and poked or scratched holes into the bottoms of all the chocolates, with their fingernails.
We used to bring one pound boxes when we would visit, as a hostess gift, as well as send boxes by mail at Xmas. Boxes of chocolates were a treat at our house, especially the Laira Secord collection called Miniatures, which were bite-sized creams, nuts and chews.
This was the start of us not sending them one pound boxes of nice Canadian Chocolates at Christmas because it seemed my aunt, uncle and their kids didn’t appreciate the gifts.
Fast forward 35 years, and it seems like that was foreshadowing. I have to text my uncle to let him know it was me who sent the Greek cookies to him from a bakery in Pittsburgh. He will text back a thanks, but never let me know how the cookies were. LOL . If I don’t text a message, to tell him the gift arrived, he doesn’t acknowledge the gift. I them am asking him on Boxing Day or New Year’s Day if he received the gift that I sent a month before, and in this age of Porch Pirates I always wonder if the gift has reached the recipient.
It never occurred to me (Gen X) to poke a chocolate and not take it if I didn’t like the flavour inside. If I got stuck with an Orange Cream, when I chose a chocolate, I took my lumps and ate it. Those lists of chocolate descriptions are in the box for a reason!
The worst I have seen (but not chocolate-related) was a guy at work (in his mid-50s), who, when we broke for a catered lunch at a meeting, picked up a sandwich, opened it, sniffed it, then reassembled it and put it back into the platter of sandwiches.
At least he reassembled…
brutal.
I have seen people poke and squeeze unwrapped pastries and bagels at stores, in Toronto, and not take the pastries and bagels they have manhandled. 
Hell is going to be full, and not just with the pastry squeezers, sandwich sniffers, and chocolate pokers LOL. (that’s a joke )
Personal preference. Maybe you like every single See’s candies but 8 y.o. kids most often do not. Now I know most by sight and as a grown up I’ll just eat it…but as a kid who got one or two pieces from a box…you pick carefully. Not only do you want good but also to avoid something a young palate will find disgusting.
It was great to get See’s as a kid but a 1 or 2 pound box was shared with two parents and 5 kids…so then came the snooping, then pinching the bottoms because you usually got two pieces the first round. I remember as a kids sitting around the table looking at the box of See’s discussing what each were. .See’s recently put out a new detailed description chart with a photo of the outside and inside of the candy type…so they know.
My dad used to order those for himself, but that was 25 years ago
Love Maison Du Chocolate
I’ve been in Scotland for twenty years (am citizen and I call it home).
Gotcha! I’ve lived in the US for almost 25 years now & became a citizen in 2014. Home is where my peeps are. I have no attachment to any nations or nationalities.
There’s a small Leonidas shop about a mile from my house, on a block that has a small greengrocer, a wine shop, a butcher, a French bakery, and a couple of restaurants. Leonidas is by far the newest of those businesses (the other retailers have been there for decades).
