Chichester shop owner fears closure and calls for support from shoppers

Johnny Jones open the West Street Deli by the Market Cross in December 2021 offering a broad and exciting range of fresh local produce, food hampers, cheeses, anti-pasti and other deli items.

This month Johnny began offering wines and spirits after securing an alcohol license and extended its opening hours into the evening.

But despite finding new ways to bring in customers, the Deli has struggled in recent weeks due to a slow-than-expected Christmas period, heading into the notoriously quiet January and February.

Now Johnny has written a heartfelt message to his Facebook followers, saying: “If you are planning a visit to our shop in the next few days/weeks you may notice our stock levels are a little bit lighter then they should be and that we haven’t been running any additional lunch time specials…. We’d like to explain why,

“November last year we invested heavily in stock for Christmas expecting a similar if not busier one compared to our first in 2021. The high street was a lot lot busier but we unfortunately weren’t.

“This has impacted us massively going into two of the quietest months of the year (January and February) and with rents and bills not going away we find ourselves in a position where we can’t invest anymore.

“Our last throw of the dice came last month when we secured our Alcohol license and extended our opening hours & food offering to include evenings.

“Obviously a very difficult time of year to launch such a thing and one we know will take time to build but to be honest & upfront, time is not on our side.

“If you are in Chichester over the next few weeks please do pop in, we still have lots to offer. Hot Drinks including Freshly ground, Lavazza Coffee. At lunch times we have made to order Sandwiches, Toasted Bagels and Soup.

“We are now open late at weekends with Sharing Boards and Small Cold Plates available to enjoy with Wines and Spirits. Our retail shelves are still stocked as best they can and we will always try and keep a good selection of Local and British Cheeses in our fridges. We can only imagine that other independents are in similar situations so now more than ever do we all need your support.

“We hope that this post is taken the right way, we have exhausted all options for now and would rather be upfront and remain hopeful than just giving up & closing in 3 months time whilst not giving ourselves any chance of getting through this difficult time. Spring and Summer will be much better but it’s getting to that which is the problem for us.”