Another staple of Welshpool’s high street is set to close its doors this autumn, with the owner citing a lack of footfall as the main reason for their departure.

Welshpool retailer Becky’s Desirables, located on Broad Street, have announced that they will be closing their doors on October 31, with the owner stating that “nobody comes to Welshpool anymore”.

The shop is run by Rebecca Williams, who also owns another shop in Shrewsbury, who has been battling health issues in the form of an aneurism which she stated has been a big factor in her decision to leave the town.

However, she added that a lack of footfall in Welshpool has seen the shop’s profit margins plummet in recent years.

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She said: “Welshpool has lost so much over the past few years, from banks and cash withdrawals to the shops themselves. We’ve gone from every shop being full to over half of them being vacant.

“Small independent businesses can’t keep the town going on their own. You need big businesses as well as basic services that people most frequently come into town for, such as banks.

“If people don’t drop by for services like that then there’s no one to drop in to the small shops like ours, so it’s just not sustainable anymore. It also doesn’t help that there are issues when it comes to parking and public toilets. It all has a knock-on effect.

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“We’ve taken a massive hit in recent years, to the point where it’s revenue from the Shrewsbury shop that’s kept our Welshpool branch going for as long as it has.

“We did an experiment last year where we simply started counting how many people came in through our doors, and soon found that footfall had dropped by approximately 75 percent compared to what we used to average.”

Rebecca’s daughter, Sian Williams, recently opened a new dog grooming business in Welshpool called Barks and Bubbles and has reportedly been doing well.

Rebecca added: “I think appointment based businesses like Sian’s can still do well, but the kind of retailers people might casually walk into will struggle if there’s no reason for people to visit the town in the first place.

“Welshpool is very close to my heart so it’s gutting that we have to shut. But I have to think about the business first and it’s simply not sustainable.”