Yogberries is latest closure

Such as shame, the children always liked going there for a treat.

However the numbers simply don't stack up.
£17,000 rent (plus VAT if the building is taxed)
£14,750 rates
plus heating/maintenance and insurance (£3k?)
plus staff (~£15k?)

Tallies to ~£53k. That's an awful lot of yogurts to sell just to cover costs.

No wonder small businesses can't make it work, with those sort of overheads.

Mario
Surely the £14,750 is the rateable value, not the rates payable.

It's such a shame that the shop has closed its doors. My daughter Millie loved it very much and the product was Healthy and part of her five a day! Every time we went in it seemed busy. It is sad to see so many independent shops having to close.

Shame,great place for a pit stop moment with the kids, but how higher margin product do you need to sell these days if premium priced frozen milk cannot be sustained on the high street ????

Derek,

My mistake. The rateable value x the business multiplier of 46.2p in the £ means a rate of £6,800.

Amazingly this shop was always busy when I walked past, even in cold weather. Offering a good product and good service. Such a shame the overheads are so high.

My son and I will miss our routine of morrisons and yogberries. A terrible shame. It was full at times, but was often empty in the day. And towards the end it was populated by large groups of school children who took in Starbucks drinks and didn't purchase any yoghurts. I can imagine to some that their presence would have been intimidating. Where now for our healthy treats?

The comments sum it up. The place appealed to children who are at school most of the time. It was an Australian concept (hot weather - cold product) which was always going to struggle here especially in winter. You have to sell an awful lot of product at under a fiver to pay for your place on today's highstreet. Did anyone draw up a business plan?
It lasted 12 months longer than I first gave it!! Who will be next?

Good points, Simon. I think it would have been a success if it had been on Grove street AND it had a larger choice of other products. It needed to compete with Starbucks and costa and konak. It was never obvious that you could buy anything other than yoghurt.

Shame. It was a good brand, a little pricey but a good brand. I don't remember if they did coffee in the end, but remember when I asked they said it was not their thing. Trouble is, parents are used to having good coffee on tap.
I found it a little odd that they insisted that you had a loyalty card for each person in the party instead of allowing the points to go on one card like every other outlet. Maybe I would have gone more often if the approach was different.
Last time I went in a few weeks ago it was looking tired already. The rubber flooring was filthy and tables sticky.

I'm afraid too many complain and comment on rent and rates. If you have a business plan, as Simon commented, then you know this. It is hard work running and owning a business at pavement level in this town, as i have, in an Emerson building for 14 years. If a business has a thorough plan, and it fails, its down to sales and revenue. The costs cannot be blamed in such a short period, you go into any venture eyes wide open viewing the costs and projected costs, versus sales. Its all about sales of your product, marketing, right product, right place. Its tough on the high street, but you cannot blame landlords if you get your spreadsheet wrong. Harsh, but true. The face of the street and retail is and will continue to change and we cannot and should not expect normality. Norton Barrie, Black White Denim, Rumpus, Mark Worthington are amongst the many who adapt, adjust, re-market, and move on, constantly sanity checking their market, and survive continuing to contribute to our town. Its graft, and i am in awe of retail who put this effort in, together with our heart of retail, Hoopers. Please, dont guess rent, rates etc and look to that as the culprit. Its sales, product, service, get those wrong and its hard work recovering. Naturally, many will disagree... but i bet those that do dont have a business at pavement level on water lane, grove st or other major street in our fab town.