Shelton-Mathews owner plans comeback

The candy company owner plans to restart Internet sales first.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

BOARDMAN — Shelton-Mathews Chocolates will be back in business sometime next year, its owner said.

The company shut its Boardman store in July and stopped producing its nationally acclaimed treats in September because the operation was losing money.

“It was the first time I was in business for myself, and I’ve learned a lot of lessons,” said Dr. Jeffrey Stover, who bought the company from its founder in 2004.

He moved the company from Youngstown to Boardman to create a “chocolate cafe,” which featured the company’s award-winning chocolates, gourmet desserts and coffee.

This time, Dr. Stover plans to build a revenue stream by leasing his building at 4150 Market St. to a restaurant operator. He isn’t ready to announce the details.

Later in 2008, Dr. Stover intends to start producing chocolates again at the Market Street site. At first, however, he will stick to Internet sales.

He said regaining online customers will be difficult but he has confidence in his chocolates.

“It’s still the best chocolate out there,” he said.

Once that operation is profitable, he intends to open a chocolate cafe. He said he is confident the concept will work, noting that he recently visited some similar stores in New York and thought his operation was better.

Moving one step at a time was an important lesson to learn, said Dr. Stover, a Boardman resident who is an emergency room physician in Ashtabula.

He said he took on too much debt when he moved the business from a small storefront on Mahoning Avenue in Youngstown.

He said he took several loans in order to buy the business and the building and install all-new equipment. He had hoped to create a chain of perhaps 40 chocolate cafes in other cities.

He said he is using his income as a physician to pay off the debt and still owns the business and the building.

Don Mathews, a former marketing professor at Youngstown State University, created Shelton-Mathews in 1991, combining his name with his mother’s maiden name. Dr. Stover became an investor in the company before buying out Mathews in 2004.

Two former employees are branching out on their own. Jim and Susan Tropea of Campbell were hired as bakers when Shelton-Mathews moved to Boardman but stayed less than two years.

The couple now has opened Tropea’s Fine Pastries in their home, selling biscotti wholesale to about a dozen retailers in the area. Jim Tropea said he hopes to move production to another building soon.

shilling@vindy.com