Beth Lehnert has been the manager of Chocolate Moose for the past 25 years. This one-of-a-kind shop in downtown D.C. sells all sorts of goods, from rubber chickens totoasters with floral designs to jewelry, clothes, kids toys and its infamous greeting cards.
How do you choose what to put in the store?
I’m in charge of ordering candy, supplies and seasonal stuff. Items have to be unusual, something you don’t see anywhere else, eye-catching, and they have to have a sense of humor. And the chocolate has to be the best.
How did you come up with the name Chocolate Moose?
One of the owners, Marcia Levi, who started the business in 1978 with her sister Barbara, adores chocolate, and her nickname is “moose.”
What types of items has the store carried from the beginning?
We started with jewelry and cards, but we actually didn’t have chocolate in the beginning. People would walk in and ask where the chocolate was after seeing the store name, so we finally relented and started selling packaged chocolate, and then eventually expanded the section.
How has the selection grown and changed?
It’s funny because when I was first here, most of us were in our 20s and 30s. As we all grew older, our stock changed to fit our age. When we all started to have kids, we added on a kids toy section, and now that we’re a little older, we carry funky reading glasses. One day we’ll probably have funky Depends and weird walkers and some other facet of our lives. Our store has also expanded in size, and it’s like a woman’s purse — the bigger the purse, the more crap you will carry in it.
