A COUPLE who breathed new life into Colwyn Bay's Local Market amidst the challenges of the pandemic have revealed their decision to step away.

Stella McClure and her partner Ben Froment, of The Artisan Market Company, will no longer be managing the Colwyn Bay local market from the end of January.

In a joint statement, Stella and Ben said: "It's a sad decision that we've had to come to but we feel it's the right one.

"We took over the local market at the height of the pandemic and launched our very first market day straight out of the first lockdown to a new 'covid era' in July 2020.

"Already a troubled and struggling market before we took it on, we rose to the challenge of breathing life back into the depleted market.

"Over the last three-and-a-half-years we have worked very hard to improve the market, promoting it, trying new initiatives like 'Foodie Tuesday', 'fun days', additional vegan markets running alongside the local market and created numerous special offers to encourage new traders.

"During this time we have introduced 98 brand new traders to the Local Market, most of whom were given a free stall for their first weeks or months in order to give them a head start and get them a regular customer base in the hope they would become a regular trader.

"There were times during the first year that seemed very positive, with a regular grocer, butcher, cheesemonger, florist and hot street food stalls among others," the statement added.

"Our plan to fill up Station Road was becoming increasingly more likely with half the street lined with stalls and the market was looking very promising.

"But, sadly, with the change in shopping habits since Covid, people working from home and notably less people on the streets it meant there just weren't enough local shoppers utilising the market, making it impossible for the traders to sustain a good living and gradually they stopped coming back.

"The last 18 months then took an even greater turn for the worse, high petrol prices meant that some traders could no longer travel to markets beyond a certain radius and the cost of living crisis caused some to go out of business completely with prices of stock, materials and equipment now making their business unfeasible.

"Add to this, customers are now spending considerably less and understandably having to watch every penny, something that is happening across the nation.

"So with costs rising and sales plummeting, the knock on effect has been huge."

Stella and Ben said they were "extremely disappointed" not to achieve their goals for Colwyn Bay Local Market.

"We've tried our hardest to keep it going for the those traders and the benefit of the town but sadly, with this in mind, we feel the market has come to an end and is no longer sustainable," they said.

"We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has traded with us on this market and to those who did show your support by shopping on the market."

The couple will be continuing with Colwyn Bay Artisan Market but have made some changes for 2024.

They said: "We have had to re-evaluate our business in order for it to survive.

"We love Colwyn Bay, we think it's a great town with so many fantastic independent shops, cafes, bars and businesses and bundles of potential.

"The Artisan Markets have been fantastic and we know how much they are loved and appreciated by the locals so we absolutely want to continue to hold Artisan and specialist markets in the town.

"However, sadly there has been a significant drop in attendance of artisans and customers alike over the last 18 months due to the cost of living crisis, therefore, putting all our efforts into a big outdoor 'event' every month, that is so weather dependant, is no longer viable with the smaller market."

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The couple believe that, for now, a big Artisan 'event' every month in Colwyn Bay is "not the right way forward" and the decision has been made to expand in other areas.

"We are, however, extremely excited to be holding one big Artisan market in Colwyn Bay this summer with two specialist markets throughout the year," the statement added.

A new 'Welsh Made Market" celebrating all things Welsh will be held and the Vegan Market' will return.

Dates and details of markets [as well as new venues] will be released shortly.