A popular spot in downtown Guelph is closing its doors after nearly 40 years of service because of constant construction on Carden Street.
The current owner of the Carden Street Café says the business will close permanently on Sunday because it could not keep up with four years of constant construction nearby.
"It's a hard thing to do but there will be a great amount of relief just because of how difficult it's been," says owner Jeremy Robbins.
Robbins says sales are off nearly 75 per cent from when he took over the business six years ago.
Continuous construction over the past five years have also caused major difficulties for other businesses on Carden Street, including complete road closure, unusable sidewalks and several construction delays.
Footprint Eco Store owner Jim Garland says he's been forced to cut store inventory and staff just to get by.
"I love this street but this stree's been nothing but construction since I've been on it," says Garland.
The city did give Carden Street businesses a $5,000 subsidy, but the subsidy came with a provision saying it could only be used on marketing towards doing business on the street.
"I could not pay back taxes with that," says Robbins. "I could not use that money to pay my lease."
The $2 million project is expected to wrap up in the next coming months. However, business owners remain skeptical given how long construction has taken.
