For years, there was a little ritual for Brisbane chocolate lovers: get on a plane, head interstate and come home with a suspiciously large bag of Haigh’s.Not anymore.
The South Australian chocolate institution has officially opened its first Brisbane store at Westfield Mt Gravatt, bringing more than a century of chocolate-making history to Queensland. The new shop opened on August 28 on Level 2, next to MECCA, and there are already plans for two more Brisbane stores at Chermside and Carindale in November.
And Brisbane clearly knew what was coming. People started lining up from 7.30am on opening day, with the queue continuing into the following days. Within a week, the Mt Gravatt shop was reportedly Haigh’s best-performing store in Australia.
For anyone unfamiliar with Haigh’s, the company has been making chocolate since 1915, when Alfred Haigh opened the first shop in Adelaide. It is still family-owned today, with fourth-generation Haighs at the helm.
The Brisbane store stocks the Haigh’s favourites people have been dragging home from Adelaide and Melbourne for years, including the chocolate speckles and famous little frogs. There are also complimentary tastings in-store, which seems like a fairly good reason to wander through Westfield Mt Gravatt when you have no actual shopping to do.
And this isn’t a tiny Queensland trial run. Haigh’s has been expanding its production capacity in South Australia, including a new $120 million facility opened last year, as the family business prepares for further growth around Australia.
So yes, Brisbane has finally got its own Haigh’s. Your interstate chocolate smuggling days are officially over.
Haigh’s Chocolates
Westfield Mt Gravatt, Level 2
Open now, with Chermside and Carindale stores coming in November.
