Melksham sports and uniform shop set to close

A long-standing independent shop in Melksham, Sportsbug, is closing on Friday 31st October due to declining footfall on the high street.

The shop has been a staple of Melksham’s high street for the past 14 years, supplying sports equipment, sports clothing and accessories, and school uniform for the town’s primary schools and Melksham Oak Community School.

However, following a drop in customers shopping on Melksham’s high street, Sportsbug’s Melksham branch is closing.

The Trowbridge Sportsbug shop on Fore Street will remain open, allowing local residents to purchase the same items there.

“I am really sad to go,” said owner Nicola Kirk. “I have loved being in Melksham, the customers have been very nice and all of the people have been wonderful. I really will miss it.

“Since Covid, there has been a decline in people on the high street anyway, but this has really reduced. It is a problem everywhere, but particularly in Melksham. People get better deals online and from 3pm on a Saturday, the town is just dead.”

Nicola first opened Sportsbug in Melksham 14 years ago, further down the road on the high pavement. She later relocated to 13 Bank Street, where the shop has been for nine years.

One parent who uses the shop for school uniform items said she was disappointed to hear the Melksham branch is closing. She said, “It was so convenient to try on uniforms here, and now having to drive to Trowbridge will be much harder for many parents.”

However, Nicola said she hopes to return to Melksham in the future. “That would be the plan,” she said. “It would be really nice to reinstate the shop here again. We are very sad to go.”