A well-known shop in Keighley is closing after nearly 100 years of business in the town.
Sports retailer Willis Walker, one of the town’s oldest businesses, faces the final whistle next month.
The shop in Cavendish Street, run by Willis Walker's grandsons Andrew and Tony, will shut after 93 years in Keighley.
The shop, which provides sports clothing, shoes and equipment, is currently having a closing down sale.
The brothers said sales had been affected in recent years by the Internet, sports equipment superstores and the economic downturn.
Andrew said: “People are buying more on the Internet now. It’s definitely hit us badly over the last couple of years. We were managing until Sports Direct came into town.
“Profits weren’t enough to cover overheads. We’ve cut overheads as much as we could. We feel we’ve done everything to keep it going.”
Along with Reids bookshop, which closed last year, and outdoors shop Speaks, still open in the bus station, Willis Walker was one of Keighley’s longest-established shops.
As a younger man, Retford-born Willis played cricket for Nottinghamshire and was a goalkeeper for Doncaster Rovers, Leeds United and South Shields.
In 1919, while still playing cricket and soccer, he began selling cricket, football and tennis equipment from his home in Cark Road, Keighley.
He moved into shops in Market Street and Alice Street, then in 1935 bought the present shop, developing it into a business that thrived for many decades.
Mr Walker’s son Peter joined the business, then Peter’s sons Andrew and Tony joined in the mid-1980s.
They continued alone following the death of their father a decade ago.
Willis Walker is not being sold as a going concern, and the brothers said they did not know what they would do once the shop closes next month.
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