AT the back of St Mary's Arcade lies a small group of market traders who have built a creative community despite declining levels of footfall.
At the back of the indoor market in St Helens town centre, local traders mark up their stalls on the first and third Saturday of every month and show off their collection of unique, handcrafted products to the public.
Created by people in their spare time as a hobby or as a way to earn a second income, the stalls boast products like perfumes, bath bombs, soaps, candles, crochets, baby clothes, wooden gifts, and much more.
While there is a community feel between the weekend stall holders, they have felt the impact of declining footfall figures in the town centre, especially as they lie on the edge of town.
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Pharmacy worker Emma Smith has run a stall in the market since 2018, selling discounted perfumes, handmade soaps, and bath bombs.
Emma, from Garswood, said: "There are some great stalls at the back of the market, with a whole variety of beautiful homemade products.
"Everything was going really well before the pandemic, but people's shopping habits seem to have changed since then and the cost of living crisis has affected a lot of us too.
"Because of where we are, it feels like a lot of people don't actually know about us in St Helens, so we want to encourage people to come along and see what we have on offer."
With a rich variety of homemade products at affordable prices, Emma said that the traders are preparing to provide people with the perfect gift as Mother's Day approaches at the end of March.
As spring and summer approach, Emma and the stall holders hope to encourage more shoppers to the handcrafted area of town, as well as potential stall holders to take up space in the arcade.
Emma, 48, added: "I'm a single mum that works full time, and my daughter has autism.
"So I see the markets as my 'time out' and there is a really nice community between the other traders.
"We're in a bit of a 'catch-22' situation at the minute because we need more customers but we also need more traders to bring them in."
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