Terrace's beloved Chill Soda Shop is up for grabs once again. Current owners, Heather Bowles and her mother Sharon McGregor, were planning on focusing more time onto their bath and body store called Chill Out, but now the plan has changed and they are headed back to Vancouver Island.
So now, both the businesses are for sale.
Bowles said she will be sad to see the Chill Soda Shop go.
“It's the best business ever, everyone is in a good mood when they come in, it's a really happy business,” she said.
This mother-daughter partnership has been ruling the highway ice cream market since 2011 but McGregor said it's time to start thinking about retiring.
“I'm getting a little too long on the tooth, I have shoulder problems from arthritis which makes the ice cream thing a little bit difficult and I'm going to be 70 before the end of the year,” she said.
The shop is currently listed at $49,000 according to their advertisement on their Facebook page — down from their asking price last week of $64,500 — but Bowles said the price could fluctuate by five or ten thousand dollars depending on inventory still left on the shelf as she hopes to sell off remaining product to the new owner, which unfortunately means no big blow out sales on bonbons.
“I'm looking for someone who is geared up for success and wants to keep it going,” Bowles said, adding that they have already seen some interest from locals as well as people from the Prince Rupert area.
“People have some outrageous ideas of what to do with the place,” she said referring to someone's idea to turn the ice cream shop into a highway pub. “No, not really a great idea.”
“I'd like to see someone who wants to keep it up and do more with it, maybe keep it going all year round which we don't have the capacity to do right now,” Bowles said.
An announcement was made through Facebook July 18 that Chill Out Terrace, Bowles' bath and body shop located in the Skeena Mall, has also been put up for sale.
“We are for sale! Check the newspaper and Kijiji for details! It has been a wonderful adventure but our family is moving to Vancouver Island this year!” She wrote on the business' page.
Already the business has dropped $6,500 in asking price for quick sale. The store will be sold with all fixtures, POS system and inventory for $12,000. Bowles said this is an excellent turn-key business opportunity and the owners will train the new buyers so that there will be a painless transition.
“Yes — sadly!! My husband has a new job on the Island so I'd like to follow. My loss will be somebody else's gain,” she said on Chill Out's Facebook page.