by Dionne Meehan and Róise Collins
TWO popular and well established Donegal businesses have been forced to close their doors because of biting running costs.
Owners of McCarry’s Bar made the hard decision to close their doors at the weekend after struggling to keep up with rising costs.
The bar, which is situated between Creeslough and Dunfanghy, has been run by Ryan Moore and his partner Ciara Cannon since 2019.
Once bustling with local trade and tourists, in recent times the pair have found it “near impossible” to keep the bar open.
Pulling their final pint on Sunday night, Ciara said there have been a lot of factors behind the closure.
“The electricity hasn’t doubled, it has tripled. The minimum wage has gone up and with the cost of food we have had to close the kitchen. In total, we would have had eight staff and we have just had to slowly drop that back,” she said.
Another factor affecting their business is the increase in the price of fuel.
“Taxis have obviously had to put their prices up.
“You are talking €30 for someone to come up and down to the bar before they have spent anything.
“It has got too costly for people to travel up,” she said.
With a lot of locals emigrating this year, Ciara said a lot of their trade has moved to Australia. And with rural bars taking the brunt of the rising costs, Ciara fears that a lot of businesses are going to struggle to keep their doors open.
“With the price increase, I think a lot of businesses are going to struggle to keep their doors open.
“It is definitely affecting the rural bars and the smaller businesses are struggling.
“I have been talking to a lot of business people in the town and they are struggling at the moment with the electricity for one and the price of fuel.
“Even to open your doors and put on a fire it is costing you.
“It is very hard to turn a pound now,” she said.
Meanwhile, popular stationary shop with stores in Letterkenny and Donegal Town, Sprint Educational Supplies, will start their closing down sale tomorrow, only days after they shocked customers with news of their upcoming closure on Tuesday, October 31.
The business that specialises in primary and secondary text books, resource materials, and art and craft supplies was founded in 1992 by former primary school teacher Thomas Gallagher.
In 2019 Sprint Educational Supplies was re-established under new management.
However, due to the rising costs associated with running a small business they had no choice but to close both shops, they revealed to customers in a post online.
“Since we took over the stores in 2019, we have had to deal with Covid, the increase of online shopping, the never ending increasing costs of running a small business, and the new Government book scheme which has made it impossible for our business to survive,” they said.
In the post they thanked their “hard-working and dedicated staff” and “loyal customers” from throughout their many years of service.
The owner also made a special plea for people to shop local to help support and sustain local communities.
“Please remember to shop local. It’s your local businesses that support the local communities.”
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