Specialty & Gourmet

The Chocolate Fetish is a chocolate shop and coffee bar on Haywood Street in downtown Asheville. Its website describes the chocolates as handmade in Asheville, using locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. The shop sells truffles, assortments, caramels, chocolate bars and seasonal treats, and ships orders nationwide. According to its site, the previous owners ran the shop from 2002 to 2022. Guided Chocolate Fetish tours and tastings are offered on select Fridays (booked online), covering how chocolate is made and including a tasting. The site also has pages for weddings and events, corporate gifts and smash cakes, plus a coffee and chocolate subscription.

Foothills Butcher Shop is a whole-animal butcher shop on Black Mountain Avenue in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It is part of Foothills Farm & Butchery, which also runs Foothills Grange, Hell or High Water and Foothills Watershed. Its website describes the shop as female-led and says it has served Black Mountain since 2013. The site says the shop buys primarily whole animals from small, local family farms. The meat case carries beef, pork and poultry, house-made charcuterie and deli meats, and a rotating range of sausages. It also posts creative specials. If you want a special cut, a large quantity or a prepared charcuterie board for an event, the site says to call or email to place an order. The butchers can also talk you through recipes.

French Broad Food Co-op is a community-owned grocery store on Biltmore Avenue in downtown Asheville. Its website says everyone is welcome to shop there, and that owners have a say in the products it carries and the policies it follows. The co-op says it supports local farmers and producers. According to the site, its produce department is all organic and it has a large bulk department. It lists a basics program for staple items, and it accepts SNAP/EBT and takes part in the Double Up Food Bucks program. Shoppers can use curbside pick-up, place special orders and buy e-gift cards. The site also has pages for ownership, co-op deals, vendor information and an expansion update.

Asheville Bee Charmer is a honey shop on Battery Park Avenue in downtown Asheville. According to the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, it opened in 2014, and a feature in Our State magazine describes the shop's honey tasting bar, where visitors can sample honeys from around the world. The magazine says the shelves include local varieties such as wildflower and sourwood alongside honeys from places like Italy, France and Tasmania, as well as infused honeys. The shop also sells bee-themed gifts, including beeswax food wraps, candles and soap dishes, but not beekeeping equipment. The owners describe an interest in honey, bees and pollinators, and the Chamber article says the business also sells online.

Sugar and Snow Gelato is a gelato shop and bakery in Suite 102 on Roberts Street, in Asheville's Upper River Arts District. According to its website, it re-opened at this location and sells handcrafted gelato, freshly baked brownies and cookies, coffee and specialty drinks, and local goods. The shop says it makes its own gelato base using organic sugar and dairy from small North Carolina farms, and it also makes non-dairy, vegan-friendly gelato and sorbet. Its website also offers gelato pints for pickup or shipping, brownie baking mixes, catering and wholesale.

Spicewalla is a spice company that runs a retail store in Asheville. According to its website, the Asheville store stocks the full Spicewalla line of spice blends along with a selection of pantry items and snacks. Spicewalla sells herbs, spices, chilies, salts and peppercorns, blends, teas, hot chocolates, oils and vinegars, and kitchenware. It also sells online and offers wholesale, food service and corporate gifting, and it lists cooking classes and recipes on its site. The company has a second store in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

Chop Shop is a whole-animal butcher shop in Asheville. According to its website, it sources meat from farms it names, including Apple Brandy Beef in Wilkesboro and the Warren Wilson College Farm in Swannanoa. The shop describes its work as whole-animal butchery, with dry-aged beef and house-made sausages and charcuterie. Its website also lists a butcher case, classes, catering, gift cards and a meat club. According to its website, the Asheville shop is where the business started, and it also has a shop in Charlotte.