This branch of Hotel Chocolat is located inside the Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet in Ellesmere Port, despite being in a Designer Outlet mall, it isn't an "Outlet" store, and basically is a typical Hotel Chocolat store, it is a slightly larger branch than my local store at the Manchester Arndale and Manchester Market Street, yet it does not have a cafe which some larger stores have such as the one in Liverpool, which are some of the closest other branches this chain has to this one.
The service here was lacking, especially compared to other stores which was a shame, based on past experience, more recently at a branch in Newcastle, and the Manchester Market Street branch, I've been impressed with the service and friendly staff, they were engaged and wanted to help the customer, offering samples etc and talking about products, sadly this was not the case here.
The product range was fine, and basically pretty typical of the Hotel Chocolat brand, which is a premium chocolate brand which sells chocolates with a sort of twist, such as a chocolate infused iced tea, which I have not tried yet, having been put off by the price and the unusual nature of the product, and the fact I don't see them sell that many either in any of their stores.
As mentioned, the location is okay in the Designer Outlet, yet slightly out of place, perhaps it would be better in the "shops" part, away from the Outlet stores, the service also is poor, yet the overall feel of the store is okay to warrant a two-star rating. read more