Traders fear that high business rates and the opening of a new retail park will 'rip the heart out' of a Cheshire town. Vacant units are becoming a common sight in Macclesfield town centre on roads that used to be prime shopping locations like Mill Street and at the Grosvenor Shopping Centre, Cheshire Live reports.
Business owners in the area are urging locals to use the shops or lose them as many premises have shut their doors for the last time this year.
It is thought that many more could follow, with Marks and Spencer soon closing in the centre, to be replaced by an M&S food unit on the new Barracks Mill retail park just off the A523. READ MORE: The four pubs that make quaint Cheshire village 'one of the UK's greatest' M&S cited a 'change in shopping habits' when announcing the sad news that it will leave the town.
And that change in shopping habits, mainly meaning online delivery services which were accelerated during lockdown, is affecting more than just the big high street chains.
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