Mocha Misk’i closed its Downtown brownie shop Wednesday to focus on its online business rather than its retail traffic in the urban core.
Helga Langthon, who owns the business at 209 N. Laura St. with her sister, Pilar, opened the shop in January 2016.
They are leasing space in the Powers Avenue area to make their signature brownie products.
“We closed the Downtown location as our retail sales were not growing and our online business is, so this makes more sense to us,” Helga Langthon said.
“We are just changing our business strategy,” she said.
Mocha Misk’i makes flavored traditional brownies, rolls, mini-Bundt-size, truffles and personalized messages, such as “Happy Birthday” in letter-shaped brownies.
They can put photos and corporate logos on the products.
Langthon said they will produce brownies at the Southside location and continue to promote local and nationwide delivery.
They also are talking with some Downtown businesses that want to carry their products to support its urban core customers.
The name comes from their native Colombia. Mocha comes from their native coffee mixed with chocolate, while Misk’i means “sweet” in the native tongue of the Ingas, an indigenous community in the southwestern part of Colombia.
Also, the logo includes colors of the rainbow, which the sisters said are celebrated by the Inga people to thank Mother Earth for her gifts.
They issued a statement that said they have been able to grow Mocha Misk’i into a nationwide brand, as well as extending overseas with shipments, “all of this from our shop in downtown Jacksonville.”
“But now it is time to start a new chapter,” they wrote.
They said that with e-commerce becoming their biggest point of sale, “we’ve made the decision to move all our efforts to our online store and focus our energy into creating beautiful and delicious brownies for all our customers.”
They said nothing is changing with their products and that local deliveries and nationwide shipping will proceed as usual.
The website is mochamiski.com.