Lee Sims Chocolates: A mother-daughter concern

By Virginia N. Sherry /Staten Island Advance Correspondent
May 06, 2010

MEIERS CORNERS

Lee Sims Chocolates on Victory Boulevard is a very sweet shop, filled with everything from dark chocolate Raspberry Creams and light chocolate Caramel Chewies to chocolate-covered pretzels and old-fashioned Jordan crackers.

It?s also a mother-daughter labor of love.

Westerleigh residents Alison McKernan and her oldest daughter, Kerry McKernan, opened the shop in 1991, and have worked side by side ever since.

Kerry McKernan represents the fourth generation of family members involved in a business that tracks back to a candy store and soda shop in Jersey City, New Jersey. That shop was owned by her maternal great-grandfather George Sousanis, an immigrant from Sparti, Greece. This first Lee Sims Chocolates still operates in its original classic storefront on Jersey City?s Bergen Avenue, with Valerie Vlahakis, Ms. McKernan?s aunt, at the helm.

HANDED DOWN

At the end of World War II, Sousanis was ready to pass on the store to his daughter, Catherine, and son-in-law, Nicholas Vlahakis, who had recently returned home after serving as a master gunnery sergeant in the Marines. The young couple lived on Staten Island, where they had met through family connections.

?When my father took over the Jersey City business, his mind was already made up ? it was no longer going to be a candy store, but a chocolate shop,? said Mrs. McKernan. ?He wanted to distinguish himself from penny-candy stores.?

The young entrepreneur had no chocolate-making experience. ?He was born in Dracut, Massachusetts, a small town near Lowell. His parents ? who also came from Greece ? had a truck farm. My father started selling vegetables as a young boy, and he always said that this was how he learned to deal with people,? she added.

As the business grew, Vlahakis eliminated the slow technique of hand-dipping, and purchased an enrober, explained Mrs. McKernan. This 5-inch-wide conveyor belt coated the chocolate on all sides. ?Once the chocolate was covered, a gal marked each one with an identifying mark on the top, and then the pieces moved into the cooling tunnel,? she said.

?My sister, Valerie, and I started out as kids taking chocolates off the belt, and putting them in stock boxes,? she recalled.

Her daughter Kerry has another memory of the enrober. ?I was 7 or 8 years old, and remember caramel being made. My papou (grandfather, in Greek) let me mark the chocolates as they went down the enrober. We enjoyed working as kids. The family was together, and it was fun,? she said.

MRS. VLAHAKIS? LEGACY

?My mother, Catherine Sousanis Vlahakis was the backbone of the business, and a big part of its success,? said Mrs. McKernan. ?She worked hard behind the scenes, and everyone adored her. The personality of the store was hers.

?She came up with the idea of making pyramids,? stacked boxes of assorted chocolates, butter cookies, and fresh-roasted nuts, ?and we?re still selling them,? Mrs. McKernan added.

SECOND ACT

Kerry McKernan, who grew up in Eltingville, cherishes memories from the time when her great-grandfather lived with his daughter and son-in-law in a large Victorian home in Port Richmond.

?I was 3- or 4-years old, and remember him making molded pieces by hand in the basement, for Easter,? she said. ?There was that smell of warm chocolate when you opened the door ? the warmth went right into you.?

The idea for a store on Staten Island came about when Kerry McKernan was in college. ?I was uncertain about what do, and told my mother that I was interested in going into the business. She warned me that this was serious ? it was not playing, it was a commitment. She also told me that I had to give her at least five years.?

That was almost 20 years ago.

?My mom and I did this together, from the beginning. We complement each other. Within two years, the business really took off. We had good products and fair prices, and we built a reputation very quickly,? she added.

Her mother appreciates the fit, also. ?Kerry knows the pulse of what?s happening, and I trust her judgment,? her mom said. ?She?s taking this business to the next level. She reminds me of my mother ? very creative, with a very good eye.?

Mrs. McKernan jokingly refers to herself as ?semi-retired.?

?I work the front of the store now. I?ve come full circle. I feel like my mother,? she said with a broad smile.

http://www.leesimschocolates.com/aboutus.asp