POTSDAM – After nine years of service in downtown Potsdam, Yum Yum’s Chilly Delight, 22 Market St., will close in October.
“It’s very difficult to find yogurt products at competitive prices,” Duane M. Pelkey said in a prepared statement. He co-owns the business with his wife, Lorraine B. Pelkey. “Most of our customers just go by the price point.”
The business was opened in 2013 by owners Timothy A. and Lori K. Dillon. They sold the business to Pelkis, who took over in 2017.
Mr. Pelkey said local suppliers stopped offering frozen yogurt for the most part a few years ago. They were driving to Syracuse to get the price of a frozen yogurt product. He said costs have become too high to remain open due to rising commodity prices and rising fuel prices.
“We feel like we have a product that will take us into October with our final product,” Mr. Pelkey said. “Going forward, we will focus on Scoops, which will allow us to be timely and semi-retired.”
The Pelkeys own a Scoops ice cream stand just yards away from Chili’s Delight. “This will remain open seasonally as vendors still provide the products needed to run that business,” Mr. Pelkey said.
“We want to thank all our customers for their support over the years,” he said.
In February, Mr. Pelkey told the Times that Scopes had to turn down $118,000 in funding it received as part of a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant.
The Epidemic Project at the Ice Cream Stand In 2019, it exceeded its original estimate and called the canceled project a “pandemic disaster.”
“The shovel was ready at the time. I was ready to go. I was ready to rock and roll, and the pandemic interrupted everything,” Mr. Pelkey said at the time. “I should have brought more money. It’s a matching aid.
“It was a very, very difficult decision,” he said. “I’m very sorry I couldn’t go through with the big project. The original ice cream shop has been around for 50 or 60 years. That’s not going anywhere.”
Also, in February, Mr. Pelkey said that he would see some improvements on a smaller scale.
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