Hendersonians band together to help keep business afloat
Henderson Juice Co. and Kitchen owner Emily Hunter said she owed $2,400 in rent when she posted a message on Facebook a week ago that the business will close by Sunday if they couldn’t get some money scrapped together.
“This is going to be hard to post. As it’s looking right now, Sunday will be our last day open,” the July 11 Facebook post began.
But the next day, something happened—Hendersonians banded together to help her stay open.
She said her message was shared more than 500 times on Facebook and news outlets from the area came to cover the possible closure. Several Henderson businesses offered discounts or free merchandise if a customer brought in a Henderson Juice Co and Kitchen receipt or a selfie taken at the restaurant. Downtown businesses, she said, were especially persistent in sharing and re-sharing social media posts, she said.
All the combined effort worked. Hunter had enough to pay the rent on Sunday, and she was open Tuesday morning.
“From Wednesday to Sunday, we definitely made enough to pay the rent,” she said.
But the struggle’s not over. Hunter said she’s still behind on her utility bills.
She said the past few months she’s not been as busy as she normally is in the summer, which, because of smoothies and juice sales, has traditionally been her busy season.
“We’re not doing the amount of business we need to do to keep this place open,” she said.
Hunter said part of the problem began when she moved the business from its previous location at 13 S. Main St. to its current location at 108 Second Street. At its earlier location, the company shared rent and bills with other businesses located in the same building. She’s been at the current location for more than 20 months.
She said she’s going to re-think her business plan and focus more on serving breakfast and lunch as opposed to making so many bottles of fruit juice. She said her customers love the juice but the process is too time-consuming to turn a profit.
“We’re really month to month right now,” She said.
A partial list of businesses that helped include Butler’s Apothecary, Beachbum, Baker’s Chiropractic, Burrito Express and Cardinal Farms, said Hunter, who added there are more but she was having a hard time remembering them all.
