Essex Street Market To Gain New Dessert, Gift Shop Vendors

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY – Three more Lower East Side shops will be serving up sweet treats and novelty gifts at the new version of the Essex Market being built on the Lower East Side.

Roni-Sue's Chocolates, Sugar Sweet Sunshine and Local Line by Exit9 will join two dozen vendors already lined up to serve inside the massive new underground food and shopping hall slated to open this fall at 115 Delancey St., the NYC Economic Development Corporation announced on Tuesday.

“For decades, Essex Street Market has been a neighborhood fixture that celebrates the Lower East Side’s diverse community," said NYCEDC President and CEO James Patchett. "We are excited that Roni-Sue's Chocolates, Sugar Sweet Sunshine and Local Line by Exit9 will join this vibrant community."

Roni-Sue's Chocolates, which first opened in Essex Market in 2007, specializes in handmade treats such as butter crunch toffee, chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate truffles. Owner Rhonda Kave said she's excited to celebrate the shop's upcoming 11-year anniversary in the market where it all began.

"We're so excited to be a part of this unique community of merchants again," Kave said. I've missed that little village of characters and craftspeople, folks who gave me encouragement and support while I reinvented myself as a professional chocolatier.”

She'll be joined by fellow Lower East Side treat shop Sugar Sweet Sunshine, where owners Peggy Williams and Debra Weiner have served up cupcakes, cookies, pies and more since opening in 2003.

East Village-based shop Local Line by Exit 9 will serve up a different kind of sweet: locally made and designed gifts and mementos. Retailer Exit9 Gift Emporium founded the shop in 1995 to appeal to New Yorkers and tourists alike.

"We started adding locally made and designed items at Exit9 several years ago as a way to support the local maker economy," said Exit9 owner Charles Branstool. "Now, Local Line will be our fun, locally-focused shop with a subtle message about the power of shopping local."

The new underground market is slated to be about 37,000 square feet - triple the size of its current location - but it's only part of the 1.9 million-square-foot Essex Crossing development, which includes nearly 200 new apartments, a movie theater and a private marketplace.

(Lead image courtesy of NYCEDC)