A craft shop in Marlow is set to close after its customers dwindled when it moved to a smaller store.

Craft Coop, in Institute Road, could close its doors by mid-June, with staff saying not enough customers had been able to find it after it moved from the High Street to Institute Road.

Co-founder Deborah Jones said it was a “shame” since the shop had done well when it was in the High Street, adding that it was “not a good time for retail” with major chains such as Toys ‘R’ Us announcing closures amid financial difficulties.

She said: “Marlow is very much a visitors’ town. People like to come, have a coffee and walk up and down the High Street.

“Marlovians have been very loyal to us. What we are missing is that day-trip shopper.

“I think a combination of the economy being bad and us not selling staple goods – what we sell people buy when they want to treat themselves – has really impacted us a lot.”

The store started out as a pop-up shop on Spittal Street before it moved away for a while and came back to the site that is now the Ivy Garden restaurant.

It then moved to another premises on the High Street where Deborah said business was “really good”, before moving into its Institute Street premises.

Deborah added: “If we had the same footfall that we had on the High Street then we would be fine.

“It’s easy to blame the landlords but it is also because we don’t have the customers.

“It is a shame but I can see it happening to a lot of other independent businesses – not just in Marlow but everywhere – if people don’t make the effort to buy from them.

“People like to say ‘it’s the rent’ but if the rent was £1 million and we had a million customers through the door then we would be fine.”

It comes after a raft of shops in the town centre announced they were closing their doors including burger chain Wimpy, Thomas Cook and Barkers of Marlow – which was deemed “unprofitable” after just two years.

And music shop Westmount Music, in Marlow Bottom, was also forced to close down and relocate due to soaring rent earlier this year.

Deborah said: “We really like being in Marlow and the people are really lovely as well – we just really need the customers.

“And because the shop is much smaller, we aren’t able to offer much.

“We need to get people out there into the smaller shops.”

Craft Coop’s Maidenhead store will stay open.