A family-run UK clothes shop is moving out of a Merseyside town after four decades, following a drop in footfall, according to reports. Sidewalk Menswear, an independent business operated by brothers Mark and Phil Jackson, celebrated 40 years in St Helens in late 2025. The co-owners, who inherited the firm from their parents, Maureen and Philip, after they founded it in 1986, said the difficult decision to relocate the store to Warrington, Cheshire, away from its original site, was linked to an unsustainable decline in trade.
Phil, 51, told the Warrington Guardian: « This has been our lives for 40 years. It is the hardest thing the family [business] has had to go through. There are just not enough people – customers – coming through the doors. We have fought and fought this… it’s the hardest decision the business has had to make. We can’t really do anything about it. »
The brothers have both worked at Sidewalk since it opened, with Phil joining the team straight from school at age 15.
However, the years since the store’s heyday of the 1980s and 90s have seen a drop-off in trade, linked to the closure of car parks in Chalon Way, near the current Church Square site.
Mark, 57, who began working at Sidewalk aged 18, said customers who stopped by in its first few decades to buy outfits for St Helens’ then-booming nightlife scene had remained loyal over the years, but unfortunately, there weren’t enough to keep the business afloat in the long term.
« Nights out used to start from Thursday and run right through the weekend, it was a different time back then, » he said. « We would like to thank everyone for being a part of this – it’s been our life and genuinely such a special thing. »
Long-term customers took to social media to share their dismay at the closure news, with one describing it as « another sad loss for the town ».
« In the late 80s, it was the place to shop for your Saturday night gear, » a second reminisced, while a third praised Phil and Mark as the « best two salesmen in St Helens ».
Sidewalk Menswear closed in St Helens on Saturday, and will open in Golden Square, Warrington, later this year.
