Chocolatier opens Dubai store
NorwalkӪs famed Danish chocolate maker Knipschildt Chocolatier has taken its wares across the ocean to illustrious Dubai and opened its third Chocopologie Caf̩.
The new shop, located in the wealthiest and most well-known of the United Arab Emirates nations, opened its doors in the last days of December, only a few weeks after the opening of a second store ”“ 3,500-square-foot of space ”“ in the Stamford Town Center mall in Stamford.
The Dubai store opening was at The Dubai Outlet mall in the new Dubai Festival Waterfront Center and comes two years after Knipschildt formed a partnership with Saveur L.L.C. to distribute Knipschildt products throughout the United Arab Emirates.
Christel Moerck, the former manager of the first Norwalk Chocopologie Café location will now serve as general manager of the Dubai café.
Fritz Knipschildt, founder and president of Knipschildt Chocolatier, said several other organizations have shown interest in similar partnerships throughout the Middle East, Asia and India.
Starwood deploys dollars
Starwood Property Trust has recently deployed $271.9 million of capital through three separate loan originations.
The first was a $206 million first mortgage loan, mezzanine loan and bridge loan on a portfolio of 10 full service hotels located throughout the United States, the second a $33.9 million first mortgage and mezzanine loan on a portfolio of drug stores located throughout the United States, and the third a $32 million first mortgage loan on a retail development in Vail, Colo. The company recently raised net proceeds of about $434.8 million through the sale of shares of its common stock and these investments represent the deployment of existing cash on hand as well as a portion of the proceeds from the offering.
The company expects to leverage a 12 to 13 percent return on the loans between 2012 and 2016.
Reinventing the lock
Two Stratford-based entrepreneurs have developed a thief challenging lock.
Business partners Lyle Wahlberg and Lloyd Goodnow founded their company Securitech Locking Device Co. when Wahlberg developed his patented device, ”˜The Unpickable”™ in 2003. The company now has released its product, a solid brass apparatus that installs into any-sized lock, and prevents lock-picking tools from penetrating it.
Wahlberg, a former machinist who developed replacement parts for classic cars
“The Unpickable is the only one of its kind,” Wahlberg said. “There”™s nothing else like it.”
The company”™s creation, approved by the International Organization for Standardization, is endorsed by Crime Watch of Stratford, and is being carried at Meineke Car Care in Danbury and Monroe Paint and Hardware in Monroe.
The company has defined their prime demographic as customers looking for security in schools, dormitories, resort areas and private homes.
