A BARROW sweet shop has closed after just one year of trade.

The Sweet Emporium, in Portland Walk in Barrow, closed its doors for the final time on Saturday February 6 2016.

Having opened on Valentine's Day 2015, the shop enjoyed a roaring trade for the first couple of months before experiencing a significant decline.

Samantha East, area manager for The Sweet Emporium, said: "We only took out a 12 month lease so we're coming to the end of its life but it wasn't profitable enough."

The Sweet Emporium is a regional chain of 18 stores spanning the length of breadth of the north west, but Ms East says she has never seen anything as surprising as the Barrow store.

She said: "Out of our 18 stores the position of the Barrow shop is by far the best location but it's had the worst performance. We thought it would work but it just doesn't.

"We've got a lot of shops so we know what makes stores do well.

"When we first opened we had the best opening week of any store but after that it just fell off a cliff."

The loss of yet another store has raised questions about Barrow town centre and Ms East believes the low footfall and competition from other stores is to blame.

She said: "The location of the store is a very good location but we would be lucky if we could get a customer an hour in. 

"When people came in they would always buy something."

She continued: "We found that people in Barrow would go from A to B and wouldn't tend to stop anywhere else. 

"Also there's been a huge increase in budget retailers but I think the failure is really down to the footfall in the town."

This lack of footfall and competition with other stores has been identified by businesses across the town and is something Barrow's Business Improvement District is hoping to rectify.

Chris Kolek, co-ordinator for the Barrow BID, said: "Barrow BID is looking at similar challenges such as a lack of footfall, change in shopping habits and competition from discount retailers.

"However these are the challenges facing every town in the country so this is not unique to Barrow."

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