Darwin business dreams shattered as Crust pizza, Happy Hearts takeaway and Next Tier Esports shutdown

DARWIN foodies are devastated as a combo of popular takeaway hot spots have been forced to close along with a raft of other businesses

Crust franchisee Sally Ann Illingworth has closed up shop after their worst Christmas on record. Picture: Keri Megelus

DARWIN foodies are devastated to learn about the closures of a combo of popular takeaway hot spots.

Business dreams were shattered for 23-year-old franchisee Sally Illingworth this week after she made the “heartbreaking” decision to close the Crust pizza store in Parap after opening four years ago.

“We don’t want to wave the white flag yet but given the state of the NT economy, we don’t have many other choices at this stage,” she said. “This Christmas, we saw our worst performance ever, sales were down 20 per cent and we just can’t afford to keep running at a loss.

“We’re calling it a temporary closure at this stage while we look into our options and toss up handing the business over and a permanent closure, if we can’t secure any investments by the end of the week.”

Another popular Darwin takeaway chain Happy Hearts have also closed up their shop locations in the Coolalinga and Galleria shopping centres.

The family-run business was known for being home to one of the biggest burgers in Australasia, the 5kg Super Supreme Burger.

Owners Fe Bacayo and Carl Sorrenson said the decline of the Territory economy hit them extremely hard.

“We loved our business and our customers were awesome but we could not continue due to high costs and lower income,” Mr Sorrenson said.

“It’s really saddened our hearts to have this decision but we have no choice.”

Acting Chamber of Commerce NT chief executive Brian O’Gallagher said the takeaway closures showed consumers were “tightening their belts” in the face of uncertain economic times.

“Money is tight so people are reining in spending on things that aren’t essential purchases,” he said.

“But we’re still concerned that the Government and the public sector aren’t doing any reining in of their own when it comes to spending.”

Darwin online gaming centre, Next Tier Esports also closed indefinitely over the weekend.

Owner David Moore said the Winnellie business had been struggling to make ends meet for a while and decided to not renew their lease.

“It’s fair to say that the gaming community in Darwin is devastated by this closure,” he said.

“We’ve been running since 2015 and now there’s nowhere to go now to play and meet with other gamers.”