The owners of Aberdeen food hall Haigs have opened up on the “heartbreaking” decision to close the business.
James and Julie Haig have run the Schoolhill premises for 12 years.
It has its own butchery upstairs, and sells a range of quality meats and prepared meals.
A recent £200,000 expansion was completed to capitalise on the lunchtime rush, with a new ice cream counter added alongside hot dishes.
And the couple say the venue is managing to attract a healthy 500 to 600 customers every day, including dozens of school pupils.
But soaring power bills and costly rates have left them unable to turn a profit.
And Haigs has now been closed with immediate effect, with shocked staff told that plans to reopen this week after a Christmas break won’t be going ahead.
‘Hundreds of loyal customers not enough’ to prevent Haigs Aberdeen closure
The couple told The Press and Journal that monthly electric bills have rocketed from £1,000 to £6,000.
That doesn’t even include heating.
And the price of leasing the unit has doubled to £95,000 per annum.
James and Julie spent the festive season “trying to find a resolution” before the “devastated” pair made the painful decision to shut up shop.
Julie said: “We serve 500 to 600 people per day in the shop, and it’s still not enough.
“The food hall is swallowing the profits from the rest of the business, due to the overhead costs.
“We were trying to find grants, but there was no way forward.”
‘We will put our soul into van’
However, while the Schoolhill shop is no more, James and Julie plan to keep serving customers from their popular van.
Julie told us the pair would “put their soul” into the Haigs Direct service, which has “no overheads” attached.
While most employees will be retained to work in the van, Haigs has had to lose some workers.
A crestfallen Julie added: “It’s heartbreaking. We were like a little family, so it was extremely sad to have to let anyone go.
“But we have to protect what was working.”
How has decline of Aberdeen city centre caused Haigs closure?
The popular food shop is just the latest in a string of shock closures in Aberdeen city centre in recent years.
And the Haigs duo said the loss of major chains nearby had an impact on their takings.
James sighed that the city centre “is broken”.
He added: “There is no growth in the shop because places like John Lewis and Debenhams have closed.
“The people who used to travel into the city from outside it are just gone.
“We are gutted we have to close Schoolhill, we have got to know so many people over the last 12 years. To all the people we know by name, we will truly miss you.”
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Hope for future despite Haig’s closure
They hope that, should the van prove successful, they may be able to expand the business and bring back some employees.
James added: “I have got a responsibility to my customers that I need to fill. And we see so much growth in the mobile service…
“We can bounce back.”
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