The community has reacted with sadness to the closure of the b.kinda coffee shop in St Stephen’s Place which was operated by St Luke’s Hospice.
The coffee shop opened in October 2023 as a new type of venture for St Luke’s and was part of the charity’s mission to establish additional, sustainable income streams alongside their retail shops and fundraising, with profits from the coffee shop going to support St Luke’s end of life care work. This project followed on from the b.kinda mystery online clothing box enterprise launched a year previously.
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Just over fifteen months on from the coffee shop’s launch, time has been called on the venture and the premises has now permanently closed as a coffee shop.
In a statement St Luke’s said:
“Unfortunately, financial challenges, including large and rising overheads, have made it challenging to make the coffee shop commercially successful, in spite of all the hard work and dedication of its staff and the loyal support of local customers.”
St Luke’s chief executive George Lillie added:
“Walk past the coffee shop and you would see what looks like a busy and thriving establishment, but behind the scenes the impact of heavy overheads has been taking its toll. When you add in the additional pressures of increased employer National Insurance contributions and the rise in National Minimum Wage, sadly we feel unable to continue operating the business.
“We are so grateful to the staff who put their hearts into trying to make the coffee shop a success. They did such a fantastic job of creating a friendly and welcoming space where members of the local community really felt at home, and that’s what makes this decision such a tough one.
“Rest assured that we will be making every effort to offer alternative roles within St Luke’s for the coffee shop’s contracted staff.”
The coffee shop premises are set in due course to become the new home for St Luke’s retail presence in Plympton and their current shop, around the corner on Ridgeway, will be let out to another retailer.
He added:
“With the majority of our funding coming from the local community, we need to raise millions of pounds every year to support St Luke’s end of life services.
“Like many other charities, we are always seeking sustainable income generation opportunities outside the traditional streams of fundraising and retail. We had hoped that branching out into the coffee shop market would be a profitable enterprise. Sadly this has not been the case.
For the time being, in terms of income generation, we will be focusing on retail and the continuing growth of our successful local charity shops, as well as both established and new fundraising initiatives.”
(Story courtesy of the Plympton Podcast)
