After 116 years NJ’s Brummer’s chocolate shop closes down

Their Facebook post says it all. Short and sweet. As sweet as the chocolate Brummer’s has been cranking out for more than a century.

Brummer’s Chocolates started out in 1904. It was run by George Brummer’s grandfather. It was handed down to his two sons then eventually to his grandson’s Robert and George. When the original Jersey City store closed down after 84 years in 1988, Robert called it quits and moved to Ohio. George however wasn’t done. He found a new home for Brummer’s in Westfield. 125 East Broad became the new home of Brummer’s Chocolate for almost 32 more years.

This place was iconic. I mean think about it. What small family business tends to last 116 years? They make all fudge and chocolate themselves from old family recipes right there on the premises. They even carry retro candy in their long, narrow well-stocked aisles. Mary Janes and candy buttons (the frustrating ones on the long strips of paper that sometimes have that paper come off with them yet you wouldn’t have it any other way) and Pez and you name it. I hope they still carry those candy cigarettes I loved so much as a kid.

It all comes up an end on Saturday, July 18. According to NJ.com it will be open 10am til 4pm that day and the days leading up. Then it’s the end of another New Jersey era. Good luck to George Brummer in his retirement. La dolce vita!

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.