Retail is dead (for honey sellers)

Looks like Her Majesty’s Secret Beekeeper has folded their storefront on 20th, so you’ll have to go online to order all your urban beekeeping supplies. The real travesty is losing the pop-up chicken petting zoo that they kept in the front. I’ll miss this handsome fella:

What’s next? My money’s on an artisinal crumpet cafe called “The Fawn & Badger”.

[via keslrrrrrrrr]

26 Responses to “Retail is dead (for honey sellers)”

  1. two beers says:

    Beards & Bankrupt

    Rye & Rat

    Marina Paki food: Currylicious

    How about artisinal jello?

  2. someJuan says:

    Sad to learn of their closing. Besides buying local honey from them, my kids liked to stop there to see the hens and buy the straws filled with honey — 5 for $1.

  3. th says:

    These unique places can only stay in business if people actually BUY things from them.

    • LetMeIn says:

      Exactly. It seems like a lot of these specialty shops are based on a concept superseding perceived need. Yes, you have a cute name and vision for the branding of your shop, but is there a market for it?

  4. Well, that’s unfortunate — in their entire existence, I was only moved to buy one jar of honey and one ceramic tile. It would be nice if someone were their market, but it just isn’t me.

    • Old Mission Neighbor says:

      YOU are what is wrong with the mission these days. YOU are why the mission has jumped the shark! YOU need to go back to the marina. how can the mission survive if people like YOU don’t shop at these sorts of shops?

      OH THE HORROR OH THE HORROR

  5. MIke says:

    I’m guessing these kids have a big trust fund and will open up another whimsical but impractical small business somewhere else.

  6. Satala says:

    Super sad, it was actually a unique experience going in there. So cute and I’ll miss it.

  7. InTheNeighborhood says:

    Mike, you couldn’t be more wrong. They were actually beekeepers and chicken keepers, who have taught a lot of other people to do the same, it seemed logical that they could make a business out of it. High rents are a problem for humble businesses, but people making unfounded judgements rather than getting to know their neighbors personally is a bigger problem.

  8. MrEricSir says:

    It’s got to be tough having a business that caters to a very specific hobby. If there aren’t enough people who want to take up that hobby, you simply won’t make it no matter what you do.

    I have to wonder if they’d have been better off with a cheaper location. SF Brewcraft is a similar type of business, but it’s out of the way in a “low” rent area.

    • Erik says:

      The difference is that the hobby that SF Brewcraft caters to requires that you constantly purchase stuff to continue. I.e., brewing isn’t possible without regularly buying ingredients from someone, be it a local business or an internet website.

      I’m no beekeeper, but I don’t think it requires that you buy anything regularly once you’ve acquired the basic tools or equipment or whatever. They should have picked a more sustainable weird hobby to base their business around.

  9. Sullivan6 says:

    Post something new up in this bitch – the Niners are goin to the big E.

  10. R says:

    The Mission is everything that’s wrong with you, the shark’s the reason you’ve jumped in the Marina. Am I right, you guys?

  11. davidsmith says:

    Bummer… I liked that place a lot.

  12. sohbet says:

    good very nices