What a sad situation. We loved Whitney and Troy and went to their store often when we were in Williamsburg. Great Ice Cream, delicious Fudge and great people.

Kilwins so sad to see you go. We loved going there for special occasions. Loved buying special treats for the family there. Sweet Frog is a totally different "animal". New Town and High Street are soooo close to getting it right but, so far, all they've done is become ghost towns. What's going on Williamsburg? It's depressing to see our little town so barren.

As a fellow micro business owner about ready to announce our closure let me say that pretty soon we will be a community of chains for a variety of reasons. First, the great locations are not available to us because we cannot guarantee a 5 or 10 year lease or we are not 'multi state' with respect to the breadth of our market. We therefore do not register. This is the case in nearly EVERY location sought. Next, we have places like High Street and New Town that are selling a bill of goods to the small business owner and doing nothing in return. All marketing goes to the large chains, with a 'trickle' down theory. To add insult to injury, all that happens realistically is the common area maintenace and rent INCREASE. By contract they can do this, but in this climate the landlords for the MOST part are simply not trying hard enough to share the burden with the micro businesses, the same businesses THEY SOLD a plan to. Our bad for believe these folks that sell New Town and High Street, but you know, we are small...we don't have legal teams and marketing metrics to prove or disprove what they are selling. Snake Oil all of them. We are not bitter but when we see JCC now offering Business Property Tax relief to the large companies only, what exactly are we to say? Well, bye bye is one thought. Again, no anger or angst but the reality is that crony capitalism squelches true competition and selfishness breeds division not community. Troy, you served well, I remember coming in from time to time and you knew my name. THAT IS AWESOME. High Street let you down, plain and simple. May I say well done to you and I hope you leave with memories of friends and hopefully not too much debt.

I find Sweet Frog to be way out of line on pricing, the store front is always loaded with trash, and they aren't active in the community.

The owner of Kilwin's participated in many events in Williamsburg, donating products and time to many groups. The product they sold was and is a good one, quality. What bothers me is how many of the "small Business's" like myself, who donate thousands of dollars in goods and services each year, and receive little to no support from the boards and members of those said charities. It really is amazing to see them have functions where no support has been given.

I see too many of our small business's failing, Kilwin's is the latest, probably sold a bill of goods by the City about High Street, rent was more than likely too high, and the projected numbers never happened, and not from lack of trying. The same thing happened to CoCo Chocolatier in New Town, and several more business's there are in trouble also, all small owned business. We lament the area becoming too commercial, and more of the same, but those stores are the ones staying open. I frequent small business, I expect to pay a little more, I expect to get better service, I expect my money to stay local, I expect to support my neighbors in business, and I expect those neighbors to support local charitable efforts. It's too bad the above writer can only see bottom line cost, and I believe Kilwin's Ice Cream is cheaper in price than the frozen yogurt shop. I took my six year old and her cousin there, 2 cups, toppings and $16.00 later we didn't even have a place to sit, and had styro-foam cups blowing around us while standing up and eating their yogurt, it was good, but not cheap. I did expect to pay more, but I paid no less than Kilwin's.

I would ask readers to make it a point to shop and dine in local establishments, we pay more, use better quality, and we are your neighbors. I use local banks too, they lend my money to local people, like you.