About three years ago, fondly remembered Naked Chocolate Cafe opened a flagship store at 31 S 18th St., bringing its Naked Chocolatey goodness to the business crowd. At the time, it was a sign of great success for owner Tom Block, who was experiencing tremendous popularity at his 1317 Walnut St. location, and was concurrently expanding to University City. Within two years, the 18th St. location and the University City location had changed hands and become Artisserie Chocolate Cafes. By this summer, the Artisserie Cafe on 18th St. and the original Naked Chocolate Cafe were shuttered.

Sad

While Philly Chocolate quickly took over at 13th and Walnut Sts., the space on 18th St. has remained vacant for several months. We were inside a couple of times when Naked Chocolate ran the show over there, and remember a well appointed interior with decent finishes, high ceilings, and a balcony. We can imagine a number of high-end food uses for this space, though it may be a little on the small side.

From further back

While the interior of the space is definitely desirable, the location has a couple of distinct disadvantages. Because the storefront set back from the street, it’s not easily noticed by people walking or driving past. Also, since it’s located right near Market St., there’s not much foot traffic after business hours or on the weekends, even though the Elephant and Castle is more or less across the street.

Looking up 18th St. Elephant and Castle is on the left

So does anyone have any ideas on what can fill this storefront? Or are we just counting down the months until it’s turned into ground-level office space?

And while we’re thinking, can anyone come up with a new location for Naked Chocolate Cafe? Block has said that he intends to reopen in a new space- and we miss those mochas like crazy.