An iconic landmark and ice-cream shop in Chiang Mai is the latest to be hit by the pandemic.
Having served frozen treats in the Nimmanhaemin neighborhood in Chiang Mai for 13 years, Iberry Garden recently announced that it will close forever.
The owner, Udom “Note” Taepanich, best known as the country’s top stand-up comedian, cited the lack of foreign tourists as the main reason it was shutting the door.
“Without customers, the ice-cream cafe became a graveyard of chairs,” Note wrote on Tuesday.
Around 80% of the shop’s customers were foreigners, according to Note, especially Chinese, Korean and European nationals. The rest were Thai tourists and locals. Note said that since the pandemic hit in January 2020, he had to close the shop repeatedly while still paying salary to every staff member.
“We could open for a long, long time, if this world doesn’t have COVID-19,” Note wrote. “Today, we have to close the cupboards, turn off the stoves, pack our bags and go our ways.”
Iberry Garden opened for the first time in 2008 in Soi Nimmanhaemin 17. The cafe is tucked in a large garden, next to an eye-catching giant half-man, half-dog sculpture, and serves a variety of homemade ice-cream flavors – from traditional chocolate, vanilla, and Thai tea, to salt and chili mango, durian and rambutan sorbet.
