03/22/2018
Hello our dear Rugged Friends – both regulars and visitors;
It is with a whole lot of sadness that we must tell you we are closing the Rugged Spruce – for good. Our last day of operation will be Friday, March 30th. We know this is very soon, but it is with good reason.
The explanation: We have not made enough money to cover the shop's expenses from month to month – not even close. Though we know that the first year or so of business for everyone can be slow, we don't have enough money to sustain the coffee shop, let alone ourselves. We have thought of a million ideas, including getting another day job to support the shop, as well as us (which, as we run the shop ourselves, means we'd have to hire someone else to run the shop, and we can't afford that). All ideas still ended up falling short, leading us to realize we had to close down the shop. Our landlord has been generous and kind enough to let us out of our lease a year early, but we were only able to settle on this today, which is why we are giving such a short notice of the shop closing – because we just found out ourselves for sure today, and we didn't want to say anything until we knew for sure we would be closing.
We encourage you to stop in over these next eight days to share a memory, say good bye, or just grab a cup of coffee – and perhaps a mug with our logo to remember us by. – (Also, if you want to buy our couches, let us know! hehe)
Enough of the details; more of our sentiments. We have truly loved running this community coffee shop this past almost-year. The very best part of it has been the pleasure of being immersed in the community and getting the opportunity to know all of you! We will cherish these memories, and we wish Charliee was old enough to keep all these beautiful moments, as we will. We want to thank everyone for their friendship and patronage – we hope this truly has been a COMMUNITY coffee shop for everyone, as it has been for us. We hope to run into each of you in the supermarket or at a community event, and hope you'll say “hi!” In the meantime, we will try to host a “going away” party at the Spruce, if we can manage it.
As far as where we will go from here, Maisarah and I each will be finishing our degrees. We will be sure to have plenty of opportunities moving forward, and we will certainly recover financially. So please don't worry about us. And as far as where you can go, we are glad that there are some other great options close by for you, such as Quiero Cafe, CIA, and Fernleaf Bakery, in S**o, as well as Elements, in Biddeford – just some of the wonderful local places we can think of!
With love and deep regards from your Rugged Family,
Erik, Maisarah, and Charliee
