At least five restaurants in Lithuania's port city of Klaipėda have closed since the start of the year. In search of more affordable premises, businesses are relocating away from the city centre. Meanwhile, customers say eating out is becoming too expensive.
Mindaugas Gedvilas ran a coffee shop for a decade on the port city’s main street, Herkaus Manto. Recently, however, he was forced to relocate.
“Things on Herkaus Manto Street have been stagnating for several years now. You can feel both consumption and footfall declining, so we decided to change location,” says Gedvilas, head of the coffee roastery Musangas.
He tried for six months to run both cafes simultaneously, but investments in the city centre would never have paid off. The new location, however, has proved successful.
In former hangars further from the centre, a dessert bar, a bakery and a catering outlet have opened one after another. Businesses operating in residential buildings say neighbours are disturbed by the smell of roasting coffee or baking pastries, as well as by noise. The biggest problem, however, is parking.
“Everything is changing. People prefer to drive; the number of pedestrians is not increasing. Many are moving to live outside the city, so most now travel by car,” Gedvilas says.
Since the beginning of the year, the port city has lost not only five cafes but also a food hall in the Old Town, which opened just a year ago.
“The government’s generosity in raising the minimum wage is costing us. Energy prices are rising, and food is constantly becoming more expensive,” says Juozas Tubinas of the Klaipėda Hotel and Restaurant Association.
Owners of closed establishments said by phone that a long, cold winter had also contributed to bankruptcies. With rents high, more closures are likely.
“There is a gastronomic crisis – in consumption, in production and with staff. People have disappeared; something has fundamentally changed since Covid,” says Tubinas.
Customers complain that lunch deals at €10 are often too expensive. Tourists provide some support to the market, but their numbers are inconsistent.
“You cannot say cafes survive on tourists alone. First and foremost, they depend on local residents. Their main goal should be to attract locals; tourists are only additional income and extra customers,” says Romena Savickienė, director of the Klaipėda Tourism Information Centre.
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