Rosyth business closes down due to ‘massive increase’ in costs

A ROSYTH business has fallen victim to the cost of living crisis and has closed both of its branches this week.

The Sunbed Company Rosyth shut its doors for good on Tuesday, October

24, at 9pm after it faced a “massive increase” in operational costs.

James Wright, the director of the business, told the

Press: “We started during Covid, which was a bad time to start anyway, but we managed to get the customer base up and the shop running good and profitable over the first year and a half.

“The cost of living crisis has come in, there was

VAT relief and some grants during Covid, but for small businesses with small retail units, the costs have gone through the roof.

“Electricity has more than doubled, and obviously we use a lot of electricity. You can’t put that price increase over to customers because they’re struggling as well.

“You’re in a really tough area, between needing to make some profit and penalising your customers.”

On top of electricity bills, wages, National Insurance contributions and pensions all went up, as well as water bills, insurance fees, card machine fees and even paying to get bins emptied.

James continued: “Any profit margin that was there before is just getting squeezed out.”

After the news was shared on the business’s Facebook page, loyal customers were devastated that the branches were closing.

One commented: “Oh no. This was my favourite place for tanning and great staff. Such a shame it’s closing. Good luck on your next venture, James.”

Another added: “I’m so disappointed, it’s so easy for me to nip in on my way home.”

“It’s been a great experience,” James said. “We’ve all made great friends along the way.

“The staff have made great friends, I’ve made great friends and my mother, she did some shifts, and she’s made friends for life. So, it’s been a great experience along the way.”

But it isn’t all bad – another defining factor in the closure is that James, who currently lives in Edinburgh, will be moving on and spending more time in Asia.

He added: “I’m already a large shareholder in a large financial institution with clients worldwide so I’m going to concentrate more on that business.

“It was my plan to franchise the sunbed business but it wasn’t feasible with the costs, so I’ll be spending more time in Asia, building the business over there.”