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Naked Café closes its doors in Bolton

February 7, 2019   ·   0 Comments

Written By JOSHUA SANTOS

Naked Café has closed its doors in Bolton as of Friday, Feb. 1.

Svetlana Fetterly, manager and owner of the establishment said there was not enough foot traffic for her to keep the doors open. 

“I personally don’t believe Bolton is the right town to support local businesses,” said Fetterly. “Maybe not a business such as mine. I think a lot of people want, what we have to offer, and those people that want it, do come here, and support me and are amazing. My customer base is awesome, we just don’t have enough of it.”

She said they were in a niche market focusing on healthy, holistic food and drinks to nourish the body.

“Bolton is a commuter town, we all know this and the vast majority of people that live here do not work here and as a result, they’re not doing their shopping in any capacity here. I believe we are an industrial town, we are growing as an industrial town, focusing more on industry then we are on residents and building a residential community, as I understand it.”

She said she has been told they are in a negative growth situation in Bolton. She also said the minimum wage increase was hard to swallow.

As a result, I believe, of that minimum wage increase, the cost of goods everywhere has gone up,” said Fetterly. “Food has gone up immensely. I don’t know if it’s necessarily as a result of it.”

“I buy a lot of organic, a lot of high-end food and raw goods and the prices of that are very, very high. I just can’t pass my increases on my customers in the same capacity. My prices cannot go up as much as my costs have gone up. As a result, your profit margin is less and you just don’t make enough money.”

She said they have been trying for a year to see if they can turn around their business and make a profit. It just didn’t work out.

The 33-year-old Bolton resident said she will move on and offer her services as a ‘Girl-Friday.’

“I will offer anything that I can do in terms of helping anybody who needs an extra pair of hands,” said Fetterly. “If you need help with gardening, if you need help with cooking, if you need help with home renovations, if you need help with shopping; pretty much a Girl Friday is a jack of all trades.”

She said people have made a number of new connections and relationships meeting each other at her business.

“I met my husband here,” said Fetterly. “I have a ton of other customers who have met new people here and developed relationships with them, because of meeting here. I really look at this space as a really special space, where the community and likeminded individuals came. The relationships that I’ve built with people in this town, you really see how good people can be.”

Since news broke about her plans to close down, she has received a flood of emails and text messages from residents who believe Bolton won’t be the same and that she brought something good to the community.

”I never really noticed that,” said Fetterly. “I just wanted to provide a really good service and a really good product for people who were interested in it. Anything positive that came from that, was kind of extra and I didn’t maybe focus on that, because I just wanted to keep doing what I was doing.”

She asked people to leave their names so she can keep in contact with them, but was overwhelmed with the number of messages.

“I never really thought about it, but now I realize the impact that we did have on the community,” said Fetterly. “It’s heartwarming and its very bittersweet what’s happening right now.”

She has not ruled out the possibility of reopening the store. She does not know what the future holds.

“Life can change really quickly and opportunity can show up in a moment’s notice and you just never know,” said Fetterly.



         

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