Washington Family Opens Candy Store in Williston
Williston Economic Development
By Barb Peterson
A few months ago the Westlund family left their home in Washington to carve out a new life
in North Dakota.
Mark and Michelle and their 18-year-old son Eric packed up their candy store, construction
business and personal belongings and said goodbye to Lynden, WA and hello to Williston,
ND.
“This whole thing has been an adventure,” says Michelle.
“It was like coming out here in a wagon train.”
Their “wagon train” was a suburban and trailer. It took
Mark and Eric an epic eight, 48-hour, round-trip car
rides to complete the move.
The Westlunds, like many before them, immigrated to
the Williston Basin in search of work.
Michelle Westlund and her son Eric
Westlund operate the Lynden
Chocolate & Candy Shoppe in
Williston.
“We just needed a paycheck,” says Michelle.
The economy in their hometown was bleak – the
construction industry started heading south in 2008-09,
greatly impacting Mark’s income; and their customers at
the candy store had fewer dollars to spend on fine chocolate. In desperation, Mark trekked
to Williston, found a job, and lived in a trailer. A few months later, and after much
convincing, Michelle finally agreed to explore the area.
“I came out in June (2012) and I found everybody to be really friendly and thought it was
quite a pretty place,” she said. “But my eyes were bugged out and I was like ‘WOW’,” she
exclaimed about the level of activity in Williston.
It didn’t take Michelle much persuading to move her candy shop to Williston. The Westlunds
rented retail space adjacent to Model Dry Cleaners and swiftly transformed the dingy site
into a charming location for Lynden Chocolate & Candy Shoppe.
The shop has been open less than two weeks but it has already been very busy.
“The customers are so excited to have this and they are
so warm and welcoming,” Michelle says.
The shop features a variety of homemade chocolates,
fudge, caramel corn, taffy and other candies. Michelle
makes all of the candies from scratch. She got her start
in the business as the manager of a candy shop in
Washington. When it closed she decided to open her
own store.
She received further training from a
chocolatier that had 45 years of experience making
One of the Lynden Chocolate &
Candy Shoppe's creations is a
combination of chocolate and key
lime.
chocolate and candy.
“Chocolate-making is a science. I soaked in all of the
information I could from him,” she says.
The Lynden chocolates receive praise for both their taste and beauty.
“I use quality ingredients and they have to look pretty too because presentation is also very
important,” Michelle says.
While it was very difficult for the Westlunds to leave their two daughters and one son-in-law
in Washington, they are grateful for the opportunity in western North Dakota.
“It’s a big decision. It’s emotional. I left the comfort of home and my life,” says Michelle.
But the prospects in the Bakken were too great to ignore. “We lost a business 15 years ago
then we lost our home. Now we are starting all over. This is our last kick at the can. We
want to own a home again in a few years and be able to save for retirement. We are here
because we are hard workers and we figure we have 10 to 15 more years of working hard,”
Michelle says.
The Westlunds hope Lynden’s will satisfy their customers’ sweet tooth for years to come,
after all, who doesn’t like a good piece of fudge.