Beloved Heaton Moor neighbourhood shop Bernie’s Grocery Store to close down

Bernie’s Grocery Store is to close down its shop in Heaton Moor, in the wake of increasing costs. The shop’s site in Altrincham will remain open, but the original store will shut its doors for good next month

The shop, owned by Will France and partner Bethan Roberts, previously of Pollen and Wolfhouse Kitchen, first opened in Heaton Moor in 2020, with a view to responsible sourcing and sustainability. It then opened another store in Altrincham last year.

But in a post to Instagram, the couple have said that their ‘first love’ is to close on July 16, actually the business’s second birthday.

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“This is a pretty tough thing to write but it’s been on the cards for most of 2022,” they said. “After much distressing deliberation we’ve made the decision to close our Heaton Moor shop - our first love.

“There’s many reasons - the stress, the juggling of two sites, the nightmare of cashflow, the increased cost of everything, the rising energy bills etc, but there’s also another reason, it simply isn’t busy enough to cover costs, wages & rent anymore.

“Coming out of lockdown in 2021 had a huge impact on footfall & turnover, we had it sweet when other businesses where suffering in lockdown but ironically the HM site simply can’t exist without it - as a business it was born out of unemployment & the pandemic itself.

“Our super loyal customer base is now busier than ever, back at work, navigating through the new normal & juggling the same added costs as we all are & we understand that whilst a lot of people love what we do, they simply can’t spend or visit as much as they used too.

“If anything our Heaton Moor shop gave us an amazing platform & allowed us to open our second - which looking back was a mental thing to do, but