“The only thing keeping me going is the fact I have staff with bills to pay,” Lauren Hutchinson says. “I’m desperately trying to hold on for them.” It’s an impossible situation many small business owners face at the moment.
Lauren is currently working 50-hour weeks to keep her Afflecks shops afloat – but doesn’t know how much longer she can go on.
The 37-year-old, from Bury, owns two businesses in the iconic Manchester indoor market – zero waste shop Earth Friendly Rocker and sustainable witch-themed café Potions. Despite juggling two shops, Lauren has been forced to take up a second full-time job as the cost of living crisis continues to bite businesses and consumers across the country.
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“You want to stay open for the regulars who come in,” she told the Manchester Evening News. “It’s a witchy-themed café and it’s given a place for practicing witches to go and find solace.
“I’m neuro-diverse and I have a lot of customers who are too. It’s providing a safe space for people and it would be really sad to lose that.”
Though she works such long hours, Lauren says she doesn’t see any money herself. She is only just managing to cover her personal bills and was forced to close the kitchen in her café in April to cut back on costs.
“All of our equipment has been dying,” she continued. “We stopped food service at the end of March because the kitchen is just in desperate need of a refurb and we can’t afford to keep it open. Now we serve coffees and snacks like cakes instead of full meals. We’d be prepping breakfast and then have to throw it away due to not seeing a soul until lunchtime.
“Part of you is like, ‘Is it even worth it?’ Some days we have no customers in. If I kept the kitchen open, I would have closed. I know it.”
Lauren took over Potions on July 26 last year after the unit became available for rent. While business was good at first, trade soon went downhill.
“At first, being open was like ‘Wow, we’ve got this,’” Lauren added. “I think it was the excitement of lockdown rules being relaxed.
“Boris told people to stay in and that kind of thing, but we weren’t told to close. Afflecks’ Christmas is October because of Halloween so it’s rammed – but we were dead. It was awful.
“You’re chasing your tail going into January and now we have the added drama of the cost of living crisis. Some people aren’t feeling the pinch, but the media are constantly banging on about everyone being skint, and even if you’re not as skint as other people, there’s this constant fear of spending money because everything is catastrophic.”
Lauren has now changed her part-time role as a data protection consultant to a full-time contract. “I’ve had to do it to make sure the staff are paid,” she continued. “Because the business is nowhere near covering what it needs to.
“There’s no way I would be able to cover their wages with a part-time contact. There’s only so long you can do that for. My staff are absolutely wonderful holding the fort while I’m away with another job and I’m really lucky to have them, I’m just hopeful summer will fix things for us.
“If I take the contract away, I would have closed without a shadow of a doubt. I have mental health issues anyway but this is just... I’m working 50-hour weeks for nothing.
“I don’t see any money because as soon as I get paid, it goes into the café. I’m just about covering my personal bills. It’s cr**.
“Some of my raw materials have now gone up by 40 per cent. For me, it’s not about the money. I just want the café to pay for itself.
“It’s providing that safe space for people to hang out. It’s a lovely chill place to be and a lot of our customers say it’s the reason they come back.
“I really want to celebrate the fact there’s a safe space in Manchester where they can go and there not be judgement and they can hang out and support a small local business – not only the business, but the suppliers I use that are local. Afflecks is quiet in comparison to what it used to be, but we’re hopeful for a good summer.”
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