chocolate shoppe
history
Sweet Gestures is a well-known, well-established business in Cranbrook BC that has been operated by Michelle & Deb for 20 years! Ashley and Chris have lived in Cranbrook most of their lives and are completely honoured to be able to carry on the legacy.
chocolate journey
A small mountain
artisan Chocolate shoppe
Sweet Gestures Chocolate Shoppe first opened its doors in the fall of 2002, in a tiny shop in Marysville B.C. owned and operated by Michelle Shypitka. Sweet gestures moved to Cranbrook B.C. in 2003, expanding into a much larger store. Specializing in one of a kind hand dipped truffles, novelty chocolates, fudge creamed on a large marble slab – storefront, and unique gourmet gift baskets. Deb Smithurst became co-owner of Sweet Gestures in February 2006. Michelle and Deb joined their creative forces moving their lovely chocolate shop to an older house filled with ambiance and delightful scents to tantalize.
In Spring of 2022 the Chocolate Shoppe changed hands – Ashley Taylor and Chris Shail are the current new owners of Sweet Gestures. See their full history just below!
Today the Shoppe hosts an abundance of artisan chocolate products including hand dipped Belgian chocolate, gourmet gifts, barks & brittle, frozen yogurt, wedding torte creations. They also offer a full coffee bar!
Visitors are welcomed into a wonderful experience of seeing the chocolates made on site, friendly conversation and the ability to linger over a great cup of coffee and savour their favourite treat!

deb, chris, ashley, michelle
“ We saw it and thought, how cool would that be? That would be a dream job. Everything lined up. Chris said we could do it. The timing was right. So we did it. Dream job attained! ”


Sweet Gestures Chocolate Shoppe
Sweet Gestures is a well-known, well-established business in Cranbrook, BC that has been operated by Michelle & Deb for 20 years! Ashley and Chris have lived in Cranbrook most of their lives and are completely honoured to be able to carry on the legacy.
chris, ashley (new owners)
“ Michelle and Deb have been super helpful teaching us the ins and outs of everything while answering questions that we have. They go over everything with us. It’s nice to have them still behind us, helping us. ”

deb, chris, ashley, michelle
“ We saw it and thought, how cool would that be? That would be a dream job. Everything lined up. Chris said we could do it. The timing was right. So we did it. Dream job attained! ”

Sweet Gestures Chocolate Shoppe
Sweet Gestures is a well-known, well-established business in Cranbrook, BC that has been operated by Michelle & Deb for 20 years! Ashley and Chris have lived in Cranbrook most of their lives and are completely honoured to be able to carry on the legacy.

chris, ashley (new owners)
“ Michelle and Deb have been super helpful teaching us the ins and outs of everything while answering questions that we have. They go over everything with us. It’s nice to have them still behind us, helping us. ”




New owners
Ashley Taylor & Chris Shail
This is a well-known, well-established business in Cranbrook BC, where Ashley and Chris have lived most of their lives. They are completely honoured to be able to carry on the legacy that is this specialty chocolate shoppe. They have had a big learning curve and a crazy busy season to start out with but are doing a phenomenal job as young new business owners.




