Chocolate is a sweet tradition for Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is fast approaching, and Americans are expected to spend $35.7 billion on their mothers this year, according to the National Retail Federation. As the search for the perfect gift goes down to the wire, Kristin Thalheimer Bingham — co-owner of Dean’s Sweets in Portland, Maine — is making sure each mom can get her special chocolate.

“So as we approach that day, we start to get more and more panicky phone calls from customers who, for whatever reason, have put off sending chocolate or who may have possibly forgotten the holiday,” Bingham said. “And so they call with this extra little bit of angst in their voice because it’s clear that they do not want to let their mom down.”

Bingham, who is used to anxious customers, is happy to keep the inventory stocked for those who started late. But for her, the stress doesn’t stop, even after the holiday.

“As soon as Mother’s Day is over, it feels like this sort of ever-present awareness that we need to keep doing new fun, interesting things with our chocolate business to stay relevant in people’s minds,” she said. “But it just adds up to this challenging feeling that it never really lets up, you know. It doesn’t ever really let up.”