Ice cream shop owner wants to stop haggling

The owner of an ice cream parlour on the Lincolnshire coast has asked customers to stop haggling over prices.

Sofie Bell, owner of Mablethorpe Ice Cream Company, said it was a “challenge we face every day”.

The High Street shop sells ice creams, doughnuts, rochers and other sweet treats.

Ms Bell said the store was closed for four months of the year and whatever they earned during the summer months they had to keep for the rest of the year.

Ms Bell told BBC Radio Lincolnshire: “It’s a challenge we face every day, people like to barter but unfortunately price is price, and it’s price for a reason.

“It’s cheap and friendly and we’re very reasonable but there’s no need to haggle with everything.”

She said she was recently faced with a scenario where a customer told her he could pay with “the change in his pocket” or “it had to be a £20 note”.

“I said, ‘That’s okay, we have enough change, and if not, you can pay with your card.’

“If you do it for one, you have to do it for the other, so that’s the rule and we have no favoritism,” she added.

Ms Bell said they “do their best” to help the community, but are a “business not a charity”.

A Facebook post from the ice cream company said: “You wouldn’t barter at Tesco for your bread, or Greggs for a coffee, or Cooplands for a sausage roll, or Boots for your deodorant, so please don’t do it with us.

“We are a small company and the price is the price.”

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