Shake ‘N’ Frappe closing juice bar on Derry’s Carlisle Road
Family-run establishment Shake N Frappe on Carlisle Road in the city took to social media on Wednesday to break the news, becoming the latest small business in the hospitality sector to suffer from the cost-of-living crisis.
The news also comes just under a year after the business was hit hard by a fire at a premises next to their store.
While they are closing one of the stores, the Northland Road premises will remain open.
In a statement on social media, the dessert shop owners Rachael and Gary said they were “devastated” to make the announcement.
“It has unfortunately become a familiar story in the retail and small business industry in general, that the ever-increasing crippling costs of energy and stock, added to the already high costs of having a city centre shop have just pushed it towards being unviable,” they wrote.
“We haven’t had the smoothest of years as a new business opening but are so proud of what we have managed to achieve and maybe in a different economic climate we would not be taking this decision, but summer should have been our high season and we know the winter will only get even more difficult.
“Our little town has also still not fully recovered from the pandemic and we know all our customers are feeling the pinch.
“The stress and sacrifices being made in order to keep two shops afloat is having a negative impact on our family life and it’s our kids who are losing out on quality time with their parents.
“Therefore, we have made this difficult decision as a family and are doing what is right for us at this time.
“Northland Road shop (the OG shop) will be staying open as normal and we hope to be able to give it a little revamp in September so keep an eye on our fb [Facebook] page for updates on that.
“Thank you to everyone who has called in to Carlisle Road and supported us over this last year, we hope to see you all up there over the next 11 days before doors close.”
Local businesses closing their doors has become an all-too familiar sight in recent months.
Last month Hospitality Ulster’s Colin Neill said he fears the industry “hasn’t seen the worst” of the current cost-of-living crisis and said two or three businesses are closing every week in the sector at present.
“We have astronomical energy costs, we have increased labour costs. There is only so much you can absorb and only so much the customer can pay,” he said.
“You have 72,000 jobs depending on it. We have seen the start of closures and I really fear come autumn we are going to see energy costs go up again and inflation is predicted to go up again. We haven’t seen the worst of this yet.”
Tags: