Tucked into the rolling farmlands of Lancaster County, the small town of Lititz, Pennsylvania, carries a sweet secret that most travelers overlook.
Long before Hershey became a household name, a chocolate company was already crafting confections just a short drive away.
Wilbur Chocolate, founded in 1865, has been delighting sweet tooths for more than 150 years — and its beloved retail store in downtown Lititz is one of the most charming chocolate destinations in the entire country.
Whether you’re a history buff, a foodie, or simply someone who loves a good piece of chocolate, Lititz is absolutely worth the detour.
A Moravian Town with Deep Chocolate Roots
Walking through Lititz feels like stepping back in time. Founded in 1742 by Moravian settlers from Germany, this small Pennsylvania town was originally a closed religious community — meaning only Moravians could live there.
That exclusivity lasted until 1855, and the town’s careful, community-focused spirit never really faded.
Those same values helped shape how businesses grew here. When chocolate production eventually took root in Lititz, it blended naturally into the town’s identity of craftsmanship and community pride.
The scent of cocoa drifting through downtown became as familiar as church bells on Sunday morning.
Today, Lititz is regularly ranked among the most charming small towns in America, and chocolate is a big reason why. Visitors strolling down Broad Street quickly notice how history and sweetness go hand in hand here.
The Moravian heritage shows up in architecture, local traditions, and a genuine sense of neighborliness that even newcomers feel right away. Lititz isn’t just a backdrop for chocolate — it’s the soul of it.
A Chocolate Company Older Than Hershey
Most people assume Hershey is the oldest name in Pennsylvania chocolate. That assumption is deliciously wrong.
Wilbur Chocolate was founded in 1865 — a full 29 years before Milton Hershey even launched his famous company in 1894. That’s not a small gap.
That’s nearly three decades of chocolate-making head start.
Samuel Croft and H.O. Wilbur originally started the business in Philadelphia under the name Croft and Allen.
It went through a few name changes before becoming the Wilbur Chocolate Company, but the commitment to quality stayed constant throughout. By the time Hershey was becoming a household name, Wilbur had already built a loyal following across the region.
What makes this history so fascinating is how quietly Wilbur operated. Unlike Hershey, which built an entire theme-park town around its brand, Wilbur grew roots in a small Moravian community and let the chocolate speak for itself.
There’s something refreshingly humble about that approach. It’s a reminder that being first doesn’t always mean being loudest — and that the best chocolate stories are often the ones hidden in plain sight.
The Move That Made Lititz Famous
Wilbur Chocolate didn’t start out in Lititz. Its roots were in Philadelphia, where the company operated for decades before making a strategic decision that would change both the brand and a small Lancaster County town forever.
In the early 1930s, Wilbur consolidated its operations in Lititz, drawn by the town’s access to rail lines that made ingredient shipping and product distribution far more efficient.
That move turned out to be a turning point for both sides. The factory became one of the largest employers in the area, giving Lititz economic stability during a difficult era in American history.
Locals grew up smelling chocolate in the air, and the factory’s presence became as defining as any church steeple or town square.
For visitors today, that history adds a layer of meaning to every stop at the retail store. You’re not just buying a bag of Wilbur Buds — you’re standing in a place where generations of workers showed up every day to craft something special.
The rail lines are quieter now, but the legacy of that practical, community-minded move still echoes through every corner of downtown Lititz.
The Birth of the Iconic Wilbur Bud
If you ask any Wilbur fan what makes the brand truly special, the answer almost always comes back to one thing: the Bud. Introduced in 1894, Wilbur Buds are small, teardrop-shaped chocolate drops with a smooth, melt-in-your-mouth texture that has barely changed in over a century.
They look simple. They taste extraordinary.
Here’s a fun detail worth savoring — Wilbur Buds actually predate Hershey’s Kisses by more than a decade. Hershey introduced its famous foil-wrapped Kisses in 1907.
So the next time someone hands you a Kiss and calls it a classic, you can politely point out that Lititz was already doing something very similar thirteen years earlier.
The Bud’s enduring appeal comes down to the chocolate itself. Wilbur uses a slightly different roasting and blending process that gives the chocolate a richer, more complex flavor than many mass-market alternatives.
Regulars often describe it as tasting like “real” chocolate — the kind that lingers. Bags of Buds are the most popular item in the retail store, and many visitors admit they’ve planned entire road trips just to restock their supply.
That kind of loyalty says everything.
From Factory Store to Beloved Tourist Destination
There’s something wonderfully accidental about how the Wilbur Chocolate retail store became a tourist destination. It didn’t start with a marketing plan or a grand opening.
For years, the company store existed primarily to serve factory employees — a perk of working somewhere that made chocolate all day. The general public wasn’t really part of the equation.
That changed in 1972 when the store opened its doors to everyday visitors. Word spread quickly.
Families from across Lancaster County started making day trips. Then visitors from neighboring states caught on.
Before long, the small storefront had earned a reputation as one of the sweetest stops in Pennsylvania, and travel writers began including it in regional guides alongside far more well-known attractions.
What made it stick wasn’t just the chocolate — it was the atmosphere. Stepping inside feels unhurried and genuine, the opposite of a corporate candy shop experience.
Staff members know the products, share the history freely, and genuinely seem to enjoy being there. That warmth, combined with the quality of the chocolate itself, is what keeps people coming back year after year.
Some visitors have been making the trip annually for decades, turning a simple shopping stop into a cherished family tradition.
A Living Chocolate Experience
Most candy stores let you shop. The Wilbur Chocolate retail store lets you watch the magic happen.
One of the biggest draws for first-time visitors is the in-house candy kitchen, where chocolatiers craft small-batch sweets right in front of your eyes. Watching someone temper chocolate on a marble slab or hand-dip truffles is genuinely mesmerizing — the kind of thing that makes kids press their noses against the glass and adults forget to check their phones.
Beyond the candy kitchen, the store features interpretive displays that walk visitors through the history of chocolate production, from cacao bean to finished bar. These exhibits are engaging without being overwhelming, striking the right balance between educational and entertaining.
You’ll leave knowing more about chocolate than you expected, and somehow that makes it taste even better.
Free samples of Wilbur Buds are often available, which is both generous and strategically brilliant — because no one tries a Wilbur Bud just once. The combination of live demonstrations, historical context, and excellent chocolate makes this feel less like a retail stop and more like a full experience.
Plan to spend at least an hour here, especially if you’re visiting with kids or fellow chocolate enthusiasts who appreciate the craft behind every piece.
The Legacy of a Chocolate-Scented Town
For generations of Lititz residents, the Wilbur factory wasn’t just a workplace — it was a landmark. The massive brick building dominated the town’s skyline and pumped the warm, unmistakable scent of roasting cocoa through the streets on a daily basis.
People scheduled their mornings around it. Locals still talk about growing up with that smell as a kind of comfort, the way some people remember the scent of a grandparent’s kitchen.
When large-scale production eventually shifted to other facilities, something changed in the air — quite literally. The factory’s reduced presence left a quieter downtown, but the identity it had built over decades didn’t disappear.
Lititz leaned into its chocolate heritage, and the former factory site was thoughtfully redeveloped while preserving the brand’s historical footprint in the community.
That balance between preservation and progress is something Lititz handles particularly well. New businesses have moved into old spaces, but the character of the town remains intact.
The chocolate legacy lives on not just in the retail store but in the collective memory of a community that quite literally grew up surrounded by it. Visiting today, you can still feel that history in the brickwork, the street names, and the pride locals take in telling the story.
A Brand That Survived Changing Times
Staying relevant for more than 150 years is no small feat, especially in the food industry where tastes, trends, and ownership structures shift constantly. Wilbur Chocolate has changed hands multiple times since its founding, navigating mergers and corporate transitions that would have erased a lesser brand entirely.
Each change brought uncertainty — and yet the name endured.
The most significant ownership shift came in 1992, when Wilbur became part of Cargill, one of the largest food companies in the world. For some loyal fans, that news felt bittersweet.
A beloved local brand absorbed by a global corporation doesn’t always end well. But Cargill maintained the Lititz connection and continued producing Wilbur chocolate, preserving both the product line and the retail store that had become so important to the community.
What Wilbur’s survival really reflects is the power of a genuinely good product backed by real community attachment. Corporate ownership can change a company’s structure, but it can’t manufacture the kind of loyalty that comes from generations of families buying the same chocolate year after year.
Wilbur earned that loyalty through consistency, quality, and a refusal to completely abandon its roots — and that combination has proven remarkably durable through decades of change.
Why Visitors Still Make the Pilgrimage
People don’t accidentally end up at the Wilbur Chocolate retail store. They plan for it.
They look up the hours, map out the parking, and sometimes drive more than an hour specifically to be there. That kind of intentional travel tells you something important about what the store offers that you simply can’t replicate online or find at a grocery store.
Part of the appeal is exclusivity — some products are only available at the Lititz location, making the trip feel like a genuine discovery rather than a routine errand. Specialty seasonal chocolates, limited gift sets, and small-batch confections give even repeat visitors something new to find.
The experience of browsing in person, smelling fresh chocolate, and chatting with staff creates a sensory richness that no website can match.
There’s also the emotional dimension. For many visitors, coming to Wilbur is tied to memory — a trip they took as a child, a tradition passed down through the family, or a first visit that immediately felt like something worth repeating.
That emotional connection is the real reason people keep making the pilgrimage. Chocolate is the hook, but the sense of place and history is what keeps drawing people back to this small corner of Lancaster County year after year.
Essential Visitor Information for Planning Your Trip
Ready to plan your visit? The Wilbur Chocolate Retail Store is located at 45 N.
Broad Street in the heart of downtown Lititz — easy to find and within comfortable walking distance of other shops, cafes, and historic landmarks. Store hours run Monday through Tuesday from 9 AM to 5 PM, Wednesday through Friday from 9 AM to 8 PM, Saturday from 9 AM to 6 PM, and Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM.
Always confirm hours before visiting, especially around holidays when schedules can shift.
While you’re there, plan to shop for Wilbur Buds and specialty chocolates, watch in-house candy making, browse chocolate-themed gifts and memorabilia, and explore the interpretive displays on chocolate history. You can reach the store by phone at 1-888-294-5287 or by email at [email protected] if you have questions before arriving.
For the smoothest experience, aim for a weekday morning when crowds are lighter. Weekends and holiday seasons bring more visitors, especially for seasonal sweets and gift shopping.
A few practical tips: grab free Bud samples when available, set aside extra time to explore downtown Lititz, and consider pairing your chocolate stop with nearby historic sites and local cafes for a full day out.