Ohio City-based fans of Piccadilly Artisan Yogurt who visited the shop yesterday were greeted by the following sign: "We apologize for this inconvenience but this location will be closed until further notice. Please visit our Coventry & University Circle locations. Thank you, Adrian & Cosmin."
While Adrian Bota had hoped the sign would only be temporary, the likelihood of that location reopening is slim, he admitted.
“We’re most likely going to shut it down,” he says. “This summer was not great and I don’t really want to put it through another winter because we pumped a lot of money into it last winter. If that was our fifth location, no biggie. But to do that now doesn’t make financial sense.”
Piccadilly Artisan Yogurt opened in Ohio City last November between Crop Bistro and Bonbon Bakery. It was, at the time, the Bota’s second location, with Coventry being the first. They have since opened a storefront in University Circle that makes ice cream to order using liquid nitrogen.
Originally, adds Bota, the Ohio City shop didn’t even have a sign to draw in traffic. “We thought there was enough activity down there that it wouldn’t matter, but traffic never materialized like we wanted.”
The good news is that Coventry is “holding strong” and University Circle is too. That shop on Euclid Avenue also stands to see a bump in foot traffic when Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern and Crop Kitchen open this week and Cleveland Institute of Art consolidates its campus across the street.
“Next year by August the new CIA building will be done right across the street from us, bringing another 850 to 900 students and faculty to the area,” Bota explains.
Piccadilly also just landed its first big wholesale client, with pints of its ice cream, yogurt and vegan options now available at the Giant Eagle Market District in Strongsville. Whole Foods in University Heights is up next. Plans also are still in the works to open a shop next door to the Giant Eagle Market District Express at the new Clifton and 117th development.
“We’re still very optimistic as Cleveland continues to grow,” he adds. “I’d even love to open a small shop downtown with just a couple ice cream machines and some to-go products.”
