One of the most popular and arguably hip places to meet up for coffee in downtown Squamish, The Ledge Caf茅 on Cleveland Avenue, closed its doors to java-thirsty customers Monday, almost a year to the day after it opened.
鈥淭he problem is we have too much demand,鈥� said Glenn Davies, The Ledge鈥檚 proprietor and lead pastor at The Rock Church, which owns the caf茅. Davies said in terms of sales, November was the best month for the caf茅 since it opened in January 2013.
鈥淲e just don鈥檛 have the manpower,鈥� Davies said.
He said he and a few others have been spending a lot of their personal time managing the Ledge.
鈥淎nd my church has basically said, buddy, we need you to be our pastor,鈥� Davies said.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to give false hope for a specific time, but鈥�. we do want the community to know we have plans and we will be back, but we need some time to reassess [the caf茅] and repurpose it, and when it does come back it will be better because we will be open longer and we will be able to do more things. I am confident that is going to happen, but I can鈥檛 give any dates.鈥�
Davies said he does have some ideas about what may happen with the cafe.
鈥淧art of the vision for this was to start up what is called a discipleship school, inviting young men and women to come here, they get trained in mission work, but while they are here they serve in the caf茅 and they are actually part of it,鈥� he said.
鈥淥bviously I was on the Business Improvement Association, I was on the branding committee, we love this town and we want to be an anchor and we want to be part of the restoration and the future of this community, and so we feel bad that we are letting the community down a little bit,鈥� he said.
Davies said in the interim, the caf茅 will open from time to time for various events and outreach.
All profits from the caf茅 went towards the church鈥檚 community outreach projects in Squamish, according to Davies.
The church purchased the heritage building that housed the caf茅 in the聽fall of 2009 and then undertook a three-year restoration process before opening.
In other downtown news, the Red Apple discount store on Cleveland Avenue is closing, as many shoppers have noticed announced on giant banners outside the store. Red Apple management said the store would be closing sometime in January, but said they cannot speak to media and directed The 麻豆社国产 to the store鈥檚 Mississauga, Ont. headquarters. The Chief did not receive a response to enquiries for information.
鈥淚t is sad, there is good staff, and it is cheap,鈥� Red Apple customer
Elisa Coroni told The 麻豆社国产 as she left the store on Friday. Coroni said she regularly comes from Pemberton with her friends to shop at the store. 鈥淭hey have good deals all the time.鈥�
Bianca Peters, executive director of the Downtown 麻豆社国产BIA, said she feels badly for the employees who will lose their jobs, but she is not surprised to see the discount store closing.
鈥淭o be quite frank, we aren鈥檛 really surprised. There are a lot of dollar stores in our community and also with our demographic changing, I think we are getting a little more upscale,鈥� she said.
Peters said she is excited to see what will replace the store come the New Year.
鈥淒owntown has a lot of exciting things going on,鈥� she said.
The 麻豆社国产Red Apple opened in 2012, taking over the previous Fields location. At the time, a spokeswoman for The Bargain Shop 鈥� Red Apple鈥檚 parent company 鈥� said the 麻豆社国产Red Apple would employ 15 to 20 people.
The Campfire Grill has also closed its downtown Cleveland Avenue location and new tenants are being sought. Requests for comment were not returned by press deadline.
