Despite the gloom of the recession that enveloped USA last year, with its impact still being felt, U.S. consumers haven’t given up on chocolate, even as they cut back on other frills and took steps to curtail spending in virtually every way possible, according to a study conducted by Mintel.

“Chocolate kept selling through the recession; people kept buying chocolate and eating chocolate,” says Marcia Mogelonsky, senior food and drink analyst at Chicago-based market research company Mintel. “Chocolate is an affordable little indulgence for many people to enjoy, even while they are having to give up other things. For many people, it’s a nice trade-off. Skip dessert and have a nice piece of chocolate when you get home.”

The “affordable indulgence” factor apparently was an important driver of chocolate sales in 2009, which generally were up in convenience stores, supermarkets and specialty food stores, although unit sales generally declined.

According to The Nielsen Company, chocolate bar dollar sales of almost $4.6 billion in the convenience channel represented a 5 percent jump over 2008, but unit sales were off by the same amount.

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