SHOP owners have raised concerns about the future of their high street as at least two shops are being forced to close down due to a lack of footfall.

Marie France, owner of the Marie France antiques shop in Hurstpierpoint High Street, will not be renewing her lease in August and is currently only opening her shop for two days a week, leaving her feeling “despondent”.

This comes after The Argus reported that Barbara Barclay, owner of BB Designs, revealed she would be closing her shop in the high street this August, naming both a lack of footfall and parking difficulties as the cause.

The lack of footfall has been attributed by traders to a major fire in the street last September which caused the Co-op - the only supermarket available to shoppers there – to close before moving to the nearby Hurst Community Charity Shop to sell a limited amount of goods from.

Ms France, a Hurstpierpoint resident, said: “This should be a thriving village and there are enough shops here to bring customers to the street but it has got so bad that I am not going to be able to renew my lease.

“I have put a lot into this shop but now I have lost heart in it.

“Footfall in the street is dwindling at a fast rate and many of us are struggling to sustain our businesses, especially those who depend on customers physically coming to the shop.

“I will now focus on working online rather than re-opening somewhere else.

“There is no one here anymore it is just really dead. It really is dismal and such a shame to see happen to a vital street in the local area.

“Part of the problem is parking in the area with so many people being given fines and tickets for using the loading bays in the street due to a lack of parking nearby.”

The decision to close down their shops comes after the Hurstpierpoint High Street Scheme was introduced by the council in 2015 to improve parking and traffic issues in the high street.

Audrey Wright, owner of Le Chic Fashion Exchange, said that “the situation is terrible” and that even though the Co-op is partly operational that “you can’t get much there”.

Andree Tite, owner of Pierpoint Pet Supplies, said: “There is a big problem here and we had to move out of our store for a while after the fire.

“We moved back into the store in April, but the problem still remains and parking on the street is causing people to get a lot of tickets, which they are obviously not happy with.”

Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common Parish Council were unable to comment at the time of publication.