Ian McArdle, who owns coffee shop Bean and Cole, has a shop in Chester as well as sites in the markets in Chester and Northwich.
“Markets have been really good to us as a business,” he said.
“It allowed us to bring our product to a mass of people with a footfall and seating area much bigger than a shop we could ever afford,” he said.
The cost is also something RetroFits co-owner Nicola Ashbrook highlights.
“We couldn’t afford a high street store,” she said.
“The rent would’ve been too high for the size of property which is why this was an amazing opportunity to be central, to be on the high street.”
Clare Forster’s business The Style Hut was previously in Northwich’s old market – she is the only trader who chose to move to the new site.
She said she liked the “community feel” of trading from a market.
“The market’s allowed my business to grow and I wouldn’t have that in a shop, I get the local people in because they’re coming to other businesses.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(471x244:473x246)/CNN-New-Years-Eve-with-Anderson-Cooper-123124-9952e5f00fc1425f87113ba2bfb97b29.jpg "Anderson Cooper Says He Once ‘Hated’ New Year’s Eve While Co-Hosting CNN Broadcast")
