Shop closes as coronavirus crisis hits Doncaster businesses

Businesswoman Rachel Whitaker says she has taken the decision to close her Jam Horse shop on Kingsgate – but she will continue to manufacture the product she sold there from a separate premises.

Rachel, who set up Jam Horse as a jam manfacturer, initally opened a town centre shop on Scot Lane last year, but later moved premises to her current shop on Waterdale.

But she said she had been hit by problems with her business rates, break-ins on Scot Lane, and now what she perceives to be a drop in footfall in the town centre due to the coronavirus scare.

She said the fall off in trade that she believes to be due to concerns over the virus was the last straw.

Last year, she had been trying to change her rates assessment from the council, to reflect the size of her business, but was still paying the full amount.

In December, she was hit by a burglary at her previous shop, for which a man was jailed this week.

Then she said the wet February affected things too.

“The problem has been the number of people coming into the town centre, and other things have added to that,” she said.

“Now I think people have been staying out of the town centre with the concerns about coronovirus, which I think has added to it, and I think that has been the last straw, because seeing what’s happened in Italy I can’t see it getting much better quickly.”

Rachel will be looking to sell her products through other shops. It is already sold in a number of outlets across Doncaster, including shops in the town centre and Cusworth Hall.

The date for closure has not yet been finalised, and may depend on if another business comes in to take over the lease.

Rachel went into the jam business after the birth of her children, extending to shops more than a year ago. The Kingsgate shop also sells ‘zero waste’ products like cereal with no packaging.