Atomic Cafe on Quinpool is wrapping up business at the end of this week.
The small coffee shop was owned by Brian and Karen Larter and set up inside Pro Skates at 6451 Quinpool Rd. at the beginning of summer 2018.
“A combination of factors this summer created a small perfect storm for us,” Brian Larter explained as the reason for closing the business.
Larter said it was in part a lack of experience in the coffee trade. For example, they had invested in what they thought were eco-conscious cups and lids, which were not allowed in the compost stream and paid an unnecessary premium for “green washed” marketing.
“Combine mistakes like this with an incredibly poor summer due to construction on Quinpool, which brought our sales down 30 per cent, it was just a tough decision for me and my wife to make,” he said.
“Combine this with a three-year-old in daycare part-time I just couldn’t commit more of my personal time to the business. We couldn’t risk our family going further in debt and the need for our staff to move on (completely unrelated) it was just the right time to make a change for us.”
I then asked Larter what they had learned from the experience.
“We learned an incredible amount of the coffee world locally and globally. We really wanted to bring a moral and ethical option to Halifax when it came to coffee and we feel we succeeded at that. We feel our coffee choices were right and we had some pretty good coffee going between Anchored and Bows and Arrows,” he said, adding, “We learned a lot about construction and how it can just pop up with little to no notice and you just need to accept that that’s how the city works. Communication between the city and the businesses in it drastically needs to improve.”
Though not everything is bleak for the entrepreneur, he emphatically stated: “We will be back. Going to take a year, wait to see the little guy is in school and I can devote more time to the idea. I am not sure what incarnation we will create, but we will be back.”
In the meantime, he will concentrate on some other businesses, like focusing on the plans for the return of ice pops bicycle Glory Pops next summer, which he owns with Jacqui Keseluk.
Larter is also a part owner of Click Productions which offers an array of photography, graphic design and social media management, and Click Booth, a travelling event photo booth. He will also be launching a new business with his wife called Rituall, which Larter describes as “An esoteric spin on self care and bath products.”
The plan for now is to pour the last cup on Saturday and in the meantime customers can drop in and say goodbye.
Here are some more retail highlights and happenings:
- Levi’s will be joining the growing list of outlets that have been coming to Dartmouth Crossing. Later this year Levi’s Outlet Store will be opening in the Village Shops. Last week I mentioned the coming arrival of Columbia Sportswear and Under Armour. The last year or so has also seen the arrival of outlets for Old Navy, Samsonite and Soft Moc.
- Chef Craig Flinn will be opening a new location of his popular Halifax eatery 2 Doors Down in Dartmouth Crossing. The new restaurant will be opening in the former Sushi Nami Royale space, which coincidentally moved to new space two doors down early this year.
- Loong 7 Mart has opened in Spring Garden Place with an entrance on Brenton Street. It has lots of random Asian products for personal and household and a large selection of Asian snacks. They take over the space that was Mini So before that store moved a couple blocks away, near Queen Street.
- The plaza on the corner of Bedford Highway and Hammonds Plains Road consistently anchored by Scotiabank has seen a bit of change in the last while, though it seems to be on the rise again. A new restaurant called Redchillies: Flavours of India will be open later this year and joining pan-Asian noodle spot Noodle Nami, which opened recently in the same strip.
- The final touches are on North Brewing Company’s move from Agricola Street to the edge of Dartmouth at 899 Portland St. This week saw the opening of its taproom next to Side Hustle Snack Bar, owned by Kathy Jollimore.
- Shoe retailer Mahone Bay Trading Co. has closed its store inside Park Lane on Spring Garden Road. It is business as usual at three other locations — Young Street, Bayers Lake, and Mahone Bay.
