Empty units in a major shopping centre should be used by independent businesses to run pop-up stores, says a town councillor.

Mocky Khan, leader of Didcot Town Council, suggested the idea after Space Store became the latest business to depart from the Orchard Centre.

It leaves the shopping centre – which was expanded with 28 extra units in 2018 – with six units that are currently unused.

Cllr Khan said renting these units to independent businesses would “create excitement” in the town and provide extra revenue to the shopping centre.

He said: “At the moment, shops are closing and units being empty doesn’t give the right impression because Didcot is such a growing town.

“Allowing those units to be used helps the economy and would create excitement for independent businesses in the town. It’s always better to have the units used and vibrant rather than sitting empty.”

Cllr Khan still believed the shopping centre was successful and brought footfall to the town.  

He said: “I have always been in favour of the way the Orchard Centre has been used because I want people to come here rather than Oxford or Reading.

“It creates jobs but also makes people realise that there is a lot of things going on in Didcot.

“When I moved here eight or nine years ago, all my friends said, ‘what is there to do here’. Now they can see why I moved because everything is in walking distance.”

Space Store, which sold space merchandise and offered immersive experiences, left the shopping centre last month to combine with its second location in Oxford.

It is the latest business to depart after Oxford Etsy was forced to close in July 2022 when it’s contract was not renewed.

Space Store owner Steve Ringler said the landlords had been supportive but believed the location of his store did not have enough footfall.

He also blamed the covid pandemic and cost of living crisis.

Mr Ringler, who moved to Didcot from California eight years ago, said: “The decision wasn’t to leave the Orchard Centre.

“It’s a great place and the landlords are excellent and very helpful and supportive and have helped lots of small businesses.

“We were trying to do work out what works and what doesn’t work in terms of what we do. We want to bring space experiences to people, and we were trying a lot of things in that place.

“Location when it comes to retail in general is really important. We picked that location because at the time there was empty units.

“It got to the point where felt we knew how to do all these things, but it became clear that location isn’t very high footfall.”

The Orchard Centre was approached for comment but did not respond.