A posting has been made on Used Victoria in which the owners of Shatterbox Coffee Co. are selling the business for $100,000.
The ad was originally posted in December of last year but was recently renewed in late March.
Shatterbox’s Instagram account changed their bio section this week to announce that the business permanently closed on Monday, April 8th.
The coffee shop was located in the Public Market building on Douglas Street and was well known for their European-style coffees.
Shatterbox was originally started by Kalen Harris, an experienced barista with a passion for coffee.
In 2017, Harris needed to leave his business due to unforeseen circumstances, according to Shatterbox’s website.
At that time, a long-time regular of the business, Brandon Foreman, approached Harris, not wanting to see his favourite coffee shop shutter.
He decided to buy Shatterbox from Harris and was soon joined by his wife Linda working behind the counter and developing new recipes.
Throughout the pandemic, the pair saw an opportunity to try and revitalize the coffee shop and worked toward crafting the best possible European, espresso-based coffee.
Now, the duo are trying to sell Shatterbox after closing up shop to pursue other career paths for which they had prior to acquiring Shatterbox.
Linda holds a Master’s in Civil Engineering specializing in urban water engineering and Management with UNESCO whereas Brandon is a working, touring musician who has previously pursued other creative endeavours such as photography, videography and cooking.
Beginning this week, some Victorians have been reporting online that the business was only accepting cash over the weekend and shut down entirely on Monday.
Some online speculators have also accused Linda and Brandon of leaving the country and not paying their staff out tip money which was owed to them.
Brandon confirmed these accusations but said it was because the business’ bank account was emptied from paying the employees out their last paycheque.
He added that the employees were supposed to wait for their tips until after a tentative sale could be made of the business.
Brandon says that the employees resorted to stealing merchandise as well as cash from the till in order to get what they had been owed.
Ultimately, he sympathized with his former management and employees, saying he understands the struggles of living in Victoria; however, he hopes that the potential sale of the business will not be hindered by these actions.
