Gigi's Cupcakes closes after almost 10 years

New information - within the past hour -- another small business permanently closed its doors.

Unfortunately -- this is something that we've had to say a number of times over the course of this pandemic.

Waay 31's will robinson-smith is live outside of gigi's cupcakes in huntsville.

He spoke with customers about the closure and what it's been like for small businesses this year.

I've been here since about three o'clock this afternoon -- and with a brief exception around 4:30 -- there has been a line out the door here all day.

In fact -- you can see on the door -- they had to tell people to come back at 2:30 so they could bake more and have cupcakes to sell.

As you mentioned -- this is just one example of another business that had to shut down this year due to pandemic struggles.

One of the customers i spoke with today said he wanted to make sure he got one last batch of treats for his family.

He was shocked when his wife told him that -- thanks to the pandemic -- today would be their last chance to buy some cupcakes here.

When you hear about it on the news, it just doesn't seem real.

And then when you see it down the street, when it's closing shops down, when people are losing their lives over it becomes a lot more real and i believe that's how it was for me at first.

The shop has been a part of huntsville since 2009.

Store owners in the area told me off camera -- it's been a challenging year for them as well.

Tonight at ten -- we'll take a closer look at what this year has been like for small businesses and how they're feeling heading into the new year.

Reporting live in huntsville -- will robinson-smith -- waay 31 news.