Staff "devastated" as Heysham village shop to close due to rising costs

Tuesday, 17 January 2023 17:09

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

A Heysham shop offering eco-friendly products has announced it will be closing due to the cost of living crisis.

The Happy Turtle in Heysham village will be shutting its doors at the end of February.

Staff said they were "devastated" to make the decision to close and said it was due to the cost of living crisis.

They have not ruled out reopening the Woborrow Road store if the economy improves.

The Happy Turtle is an independent zero waste and eco store offering environmentally friendly options for households in the Morecambe Bay area.

A statement on the shop's Facebook page said: "We are very sad to tell you that we are having to close our shop in Heysham.

"To say we are devastated to have to make this decision is an understatement.

"We have absolutely loved running our little shop and serving you as customers, having a natter and a laugh, and catching up with village gossip!

"Most importantly we have helped you refill your household, cleaning and grocery items, saving thousands of single use plastic bottles going to landfill.

"As a small business we have appreciated every single visit you have made to the shop and we thank you especially for your support when we ventured into takeaway food and spinning pizzas for your supper!

"Unfortunately, despite all this, with families having to tighten their shopping budgets, plus rising wholesale costs and energy bills, it has become near impossible for us to cover our running costs.

"We hope this isn’t a goodbye forever, and that if/when the economy improves, we can pop up again!

"We will be closed this week to give us time to organise the shop ready for our closing down sale which starts on Thursday at 11am.

"We will have some takeaway lunch for you, hot drinks and @lonewolfbakes that you can buy along with our remaining stock at half price. We will also be doing a few pizza nights so you can get your fix before we close our doors at Woborrow Road towards the end of February.

"We will be posting information over the next few days about how you can continue to support our lovely local suppliers, along with our amended opening days."

A post from Heysham Neighbourhood Council said: "We’ve watched you grow, we’ve watched you change, we’ve watched you be inventive, we've watched YOU support our local community. We hope you can pop up again and rise like a phoenix.

"We’ll all miss you."