A luxury Swiss chocolate brand has opened its doors at a major outlet shopping centre wowing guests with a chocolate fountain.

Premium chocolate maker Lindt welcomed guests to its latest store opening at Bicester Village last week, enticing visitors with its chocolate emporium, life-sized chocolate fountain and decorative suspended cocoa pods.

Oxford Mail: Inside the Lindt store at Bicester Village

The venue also boasts a jewel-like rainbow of Lindt pick and mix, along with assortments of gift boxes and chocolate bars to choose from.

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Lindt Bicester Village store manager Bart Spadlo said: “We’re delighted to open our next generation chocolate shop in Bicester Village and look forward to welcoming our customers to fulfil their chocolate dreams.

“The opening weekend was a huge success with many chocolate fans thrilled with the new store opening in this fantastic location.

“We’ve got the perfect gift for any occasion. Guests love our new personalisation hub where they can select various gift box designs and print custom messages on silk ribbons, all finished off with beautiful hand-tied bows.”

The shop offers a mouth-watering selection of pick and mix favourites from Lindt Marc de Champagne truffles, Lindt Choco Wafer milk chocolate to Lindor caramel, raspberry and cream popcorn.

Lindt has been serving customers for over 175 years, with its chocolatiers using the conching method invented by Rodolphe Lindt in 1879.

Conching involves stirring chocolate continuously over 72 hours to give it a silky-smooth texture.

The Lindt website states that “Lindt’s entrepreneurial journey began in 1845 when a small confectionery shop was opened on Marktgasse in Zurich’s old town by David Sprungli and his son, Rudolf Sprungli-Ammann.

“The pair produced the first solid bar of chocolate in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.

Sprungli grew rapidly, opening the Schleifetobel factory in Horgen in 1847.

“In Berne, Randolphe Lindt had just started his own small confectionery, and shortly after opening in 1879, Lindt’s chocolate company Rod. Lindt & Sons only produced hard, bitter chocolate.

“But Lindt kept experimenting, until one Friday night after months of testing, he left his factory without turning off the conching machine.

“It churned all night and all through the weekend. The chocolate Lindt found on Monday was delicately smooth and tasted like it never had before.

“Chocolate had changed forever. That was the beginning of incomparably delicate, world-renowned Lindt chocolate fondant.”

Lindt then paired up with Sprungi and the company was born.

The chocolate company is also releasing its new Lindt teddy augmented reality advent calendar this Christmas, where customers can scan the QR code on the back and watch the magic adventures unfold.

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1