![]() "It just gets to the point where, are we going to pay to stay open, or we’ve got to make a tough decision,” Walton says fighting off tears. ![]() When the order was cancelled, the Waltons estimate it cost them roughly $60,000.Ī rough 2020 seemed to turn a corner with a promising rush of Christmas business, but then a dismal January led them to announce their store would close at the end of February. The store was supposed to supply 15,000 cupcakes over the course of the event. Wedding cupcakes had become big business, according to Dana Walton.įinally, they suffered a brutal economic hit when the Republican National Convention skipped town. Then weddings, birthday parties, and other events were cancelled, landing another punch. If you’re wondering what the economic impact of a pandemic is on a cupcake business, it is not pretty.įirst, offices closed near the shop, which Walton says cost them hundreds of customers, who would usually come in on lunch breaks to grab a few cupcakes. "It’s really hard because, they’re working so hard, people have been coming in, which is nice, but if they would have come in earlier, throughout the whole year, that would’ve been great,” says Natalie Walton, their college student daughter. Since then, their three children, some in college, have returned home as often as possible to help around the bakery. Eventually, the Waltons laid off their nine-person staff and started working 12- to 14-hour days to cover the business. Keeping our staff paid, I mean they have bills to pay too,” Walton says. So, we were struggling, and we personally were putting money into the business trying to keep it alive. "We couldn’t pay all the bills, because we weren’t making enough money. The pandemic hit the business like a freight train and left the Waltons scrambling to cover costs and continue supporting their nine staff members. "Sales dropped 90% at first,” Dana Walton adds. Gigi’s Cupcakes, which Dana and her husband purchased about three years ago, stayed closed for more than a month as they, and the world, tried to work around the COVID-19 shutdowns in the spring of last year.īut business suffered heavily, the couple estimates they went from about 10,000 cupcakes in a good month to just a thousand during the worst of the pandemic. "To close a cupcake shop for two months, is just.We have never caught up,” says Dana Walton as she reflected on the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. With the COVID-19 pandemic threatening the business, Dana Walton and her husband had announced the store would close in February right before its 10th anniversary. Gigi’s Cupcakes in Charlotte is fighting for survival after announcing earlier this year it was left for dead. A strong February is giving the owners hope of staying open.Cancelled weddings, other events, and closed offices led to the financial struggles.Gigi's Cupcakes lost 90 percent of its business at the start of the pandemic.
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