Downtown Soap Shop Simple Not Reopening After Fire

PHOTO COURTESY SIMPLE

Simple (370 George Street North) has been closed since a fire hit the building on November 17th, 2017. Their neighbour Natas who were also affected have since reopened, then opened a new location at 382 George Street called Cork & Bean.

Simple had opened a temporary location at the Peterborough Square but have decided not to re-open.

PHOTO Of TEMPORARY PETERBOROUGH SQUARE LOCATION COURTESY DBIA

Owner Alex Fitzgerald posted the following note to customers on their Facebook page

Happy Fall, everyone!
I’ve had a much longer hiatus than I’d originally planned, but I hope everyone had as great a summer as I did.
I’ve had some interesting opportunities come up during my downtime and I think I’d like to take advantage of them rather than reopen the shop. It was a hard decision to make, but I’m going to make a huge left turn and become… a travel consultant.
I’m as surprised as anyone, it sort of manifested itself. I had some stress-related health issues this summer, so it’s been a good time to rethink my lifestyle. I’ve always known that travel is important (there’s no one that tries harder to get out of the snow). Now I’m sure that wellness travel is a great way to continue the same thing I’ve been doing for a couple of decades – helping people get better, healthier, practical choices. But now with margaritas 😊
I will miss the shop though. I’ve been very lucky to work downtown my entire life. I can’t think of another environment where you get to be a part of so much community involvement. It’s always been inspiring to be around so many exceptional businesses that put their product over profit and genuinely care about their customers.
Everything’s always ultimately about people. I’d like to think we provided a good product, but it was actually you guys that made our shop a welcoming place that was great to work in every day. Inclusive, unpretentious, authentic… everything that I was proud of in the shop came directly from and was enabled by our awesome customers. You made a great space, thank you. (While I’m thinking about it, I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank you for almost 2 decades of enduring my awesomely horrific soundtracks.)
It has been my absolute pleasure serving you.
High Five
— Alex

—post by Evan Holt

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