Inuvik loses only cafe

Some residents of Inuvik, N.W.T., say they don't know how they'll get along without their local coffee shop after it shut down last month.

The Cafe Gallery, which had offered specialty coffees and food for the past 11 years, suddenly closed in mid-November, leaving some in the town of 3,500 to wonder where they'll get their next coffee and social fix.

"It's the only place to hang around and have coffee and have a little chat," Moufid Mortada, a local taxi driver and daily visitor to the Cafe Gallery, told CBC News.

"But now with no coffee, there's no place to sit except the hospital — and we don't want to sit there," he added with a laugh.

Mortada, who has lived in Inuvik for 14 years, said it's not the first time a coffee shop in Inuvik has let him down.

"Before Cafe Gallery, it was the old Mackenzie Hotel," he said. "It was a coffee shop too, and after that one shut down most of the people turned to Cafe Gallery."

Cafe Gallery owner Rob Cook left Inuvik shortly after closing the shop and could not be reached for comment.

"I saw the guy at the airport before he left town and he said that business dropped dramatically," said Ayman Elshafai, who owns the gift shop at the Inuvik airport.

Elshafai said business is down everywhere in town; for example, he has seen a 50 per cent drop in profit at his shop this year.

Although there are other places in town to get a cup of java, Elshafai said those places do not have the same atmosphere that Cafe Gallery offered.