By Eliza Mcphee For Daily Mail Australia
07:19 30 May 2024, updated 07:21 30 May 2024
A popular bakery that was loved by customers for more than 30 years has been forced to close up shop in the latest of a string of small businesses shutting down.
Brewbakers at Albion, in inner Brisbane, will close for good on June 15.
The family-run business first welcomed customers in 1992 and is owned by Richard and Caroline Cotton.
While the bakery was loved for its handcrafted pastries and fresh sourdough, the organic flour it sourced was becoming too expensive and the business had struggled to find a replacement baker.
Mrs Cotton said a skills shortage and the addition of several other bakeries in the area meant it was becoming harder to keep up.
‘We thought we might’ve had (a baker) up until quite recently but he is leaving to return to his home country,’ the owner told the Courier Mail.
‘I think a lot of bakeries have opened nearby, probably about five or seven in the last five to seven years, so maybe if those five or seven other bakeries hadn’t opened there might have been someone we would have been able to secure.’
She said a lot of her customers had been coming to the bakery since they were children and were ‘quite emotional’ to hear it was closing.
‘In the end it will just be Coles and Woolworths left,’ Mrs Cotton said.
It comes after BCN Events Group fell into voluntary liquidation on Tuesday, leaving 90 staff across seven hospitality venues without jobs.
The company is owned by award-winning chef Shannon Kellam.
The affected businesses include the Lumiere Culinary Studio in Newstead, Mica Brasserie in Newstead and the popular King Street Bakery in Bowen Hills.
It’s understood BCN Events Group suffered a $150,000 loss when floods in February, 2022 left their businesses without any power.