Toronto craft brewery permanently closed due to rent increase and rising costs
A Toronto craft brewery that was a favourite of home brewers has permanently closed, due to an inability to keep up with many costs as well as a huge rent increase.
The "Aleyards District" that's home to many Stockyards breweries just lost one: People's Pint.
The brewery was known for helping out home brewers with creating their beers and even serving them in their tap room, an industrial but charming community space.
Their Instagram bio now reads "permanently closed" and they've posted an announcement online.
"It's been a pretty tough few months for us. With the rising costs of everything, lower than normal sales and our boiler failure a few months ago, it has become next to impossible for us to continue operations," reads the announcement post. "We want to thank all our loyal customers and friends for all your support the last 5 years."
People's Pint owner Doug Appeldoorn tells blogTO that all breweries run on tight margins, and the blows that their business had to deal with were just too much to keep going.
"The rising costs of everything, brewing supplies...barley, hops, yeast...bottles, cans, labels, etc., was more than we could cover without a substantial price increase. People are only willing to pay so much for beer, so our hands were really tied. Our rent had recently also just gone up substantially, and it proved to be too much for us," Appeldoorn tells blogTO.
"The greatest challenge was that sales never really returned to pre-March 2020 levels, specifically from bars and restaurants. On top of that, our boiler broke down last fall, and that was several thousand dollars to fix. We didn't have the reserves to absorb that, and we struggled to stay on top of things. We tried really hard to keep it going, but January, being the worst month for sales in a normal year, was just the final nail in the coffin."
It's yet one more reminder that local businesses are far from out of the woods when it comes to recovering from recent years, and that they depend on their supporters to survive.
"I'm sure we won't be the last brewery to go out of business this year. Things are tough for everyone right now. We urge everyone out there to support their favourite local breweries if they want to continue drinking their beer," says Appeldoorn.
"And for those people wondering, Maris our brewery cat has a new home, and she's doing just fine."
People's Pint is closed as of February 1.
Hector Vasquez
