When well known local music store Cranes announced it was closing, it was just the latest in a long list of shops that have departed the city centre.
While there are still plenty of shops to choose from in Swansea, its departure is another blow for the city, which has lost Starbucks, Coffee Punks, and Crepe Vine in recent months, the latter revealing that a lack of footfall had made its business unviable.
Much the same was said by the owners of the Cocina Mexican restaurant which closed in Princess Way last month.
Swansea Council has previously pointed to exciting plans to transform the city centre, including with work on The Kingsway and the new indoor arena near the LC.
But, while many parts of the city centre remain busy and full of shops, there are a worrying number of empty ones.
Here are some of the shops we have lost from Swansea over the last two decades...
Cranes
The music shop in St David's Shopping Centre announced earlier this month it was to cease trading. The firm was established in Cardiff in 1851, but the Swansea branch, which had been trading in the city since 1987, was its only remaining store.
British Home Stores
Once a familiar sight on high streets across the UK, the department store went into administration in 2016, with retail billionaire Sir Phillip Green coming under criticism for leaving it with a multi-million pound deficit. It once had 150 stores across the UK, but the end came in 2016 for its store in Oxford Street.
Our Price
The record shop had branches across the country, and was bought out by Virgin in the mid nineties. It was situated in Oxford Street, near the junction with Union Street.
Littlewoods
Littlewoods pulled out of the city in 2006, after fifty years in Swansea. When it opened in 1955 it was located in High Street, before moving to St Mary’s Square in 1981, in the unit now occupied by Primark.
Chelsea Girl
A favourite with teenage girls during the seventies and eighties, he business traded from inside Swansea's Quadrant Shopping Centre. It was rebranded in 1988 as River Island and continues to trade under that name, now in Oxford Street.
Toys R Us
Once the go-too place for parents of young children, the retail giant went into administration at the start of the year, forcing the closure of all its UK stores.
Picton Music
The family-run music shop in Picton Arcade was started by former West Glamorgan County Council leader John Allison, and stayed in the family for 40 years. The store, known for its stock of musical instruments and sheet music, later transferred to Mansel Street before it closed for good.
David Evans
The business was a Swansea landmark, and the imposing department store in Princess Way was at the core of city centre shopping for nearly 100 years. The building was pulled down two years after it closed for good in 2005 and replaced with a new development incorporating businesses including Tiger and Zara.
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Halfords
The cycling business, which also sells camping and car parts, once had an outlet in Oxford Street. It's now on Swansea Enterprise Park
Woolworths
Once ubiquitous on high streets across the UK, the Swansea store in Oxford Street closed its doors for good in 2009 when the company went into administration. There is now a bargain shop in its place.
Peter's Book Shop
Situated in the Kingsway, the independent bookshop had two floors, but closed at the turn of the century. It was replaced with Info Nation, a drop-in centre for teenagers, offering information, advice and support.
JT Morgan
The city centre business was, until its demise in 2008, the oldest independent department store in Wales. It was based on Belle Vue Way and had hoped to move to the £30 million development in Princess Way, now home to various traders including Zara and Zinco Lounge, but the move never materialised.
Mothercare
The shop once had a big presence in The Kingsway, where it traded for thirty years until it closed in 2005. It later opened a branch in Parc Tawe.
Freeman Hardy Willis
A chain of footwear retailers that had branches all over the UK. In the 1990s half its stores converted into Hush Puppies shops, but trade ended there in 1996.
Treasure
Treasure sold a range of gifts and keepsakes, and traded in Swansea for 46 years. It was first situated in Whitewalls in the city centre from 1976 to 1978, before moving to Caer Street until 1996. There was also a branch near Cardiff Castle from 1984 to 2002, and its final branch, in Mumbles, closed in 2015. The property was taken over by Tesco.
Happy Home Furnishers
The furniture shop traded from College Street for 27 years until it closed its doors for good earlier this year. But the business continues, having relocated to Phoenix Retail Park in Llansamlet.
Snob
Another clothing shop popular with teenage girls and young women. It was another to eventually disappear from Swansea.
Dylan's Bookstore
The independent bookshop was opened by author and Dylan Thomas expert Jeff Towns in 1970 at the top of High Street, but was best known at its location in Salubrious Passage. The antiquarian book specialist later moved to King Edward Road, and still lives on through Dylan's Mobile Bookstore, a common sight at festivals and markets.
Eddershaws
The name was synonymous with shopping in Swansea for 180 years. It started as a cabinet manufacturing and furniture showroom in High Street in 1835, but closed in 2013. It continued with a store in Cardiff, but that too finally closed in 2016.
Etam
The clothes store traded for 40 years in Swansea, but that all came to end in 2005. Bosses decided to scrap the chain just months after it was bought by billionaire retail tycoon Philip Green.
Bumper to Bumper
Situated in Dillwyn Street, the independent motoring accessory shop traded for more than thirty years until it closed in 2014.
John Menzies
The newsagents was situated in Oxford Street, and also sold records and tapes during the heyday of vinyl. A sign still exists at its rear inside Swansea Market.
Other much-loved former businesses that once traded in Swansea
Ben Evans
Ben Evans was synonymous with Swansea before the war. Situated at the junction of Castle Bailey and Temple Street, where Castle Square is today, it was razed during the three night blitz of Swansea in Feburary, 1941
John Ham Music Shop
The music shop was situated in Mansel Street, at the junction with Christina Street. The business, which sold musical instruments, belonged to the brother of Pete Ham, the frontman and songwriter for Badfinger, the first band signed by The Beatles to their fledgling Apple label.
Lewis Lewis
The department store stood in High Street at the junction of King's Lane. It was destroyed by fire in the seventies, and the site later became home to Iceland. It is now home to Volcano Theatre.
Duck, Son and Pinker
Another music shop, situated in Union Street, which sold pianos, musical instruments and sheet music. The property is now home to a health food shop.
Travelwise
One of the city centre's oldest travel shops, it closed in 2009. Situated next to the National Express ticket sales outlet in Plymouth, the company, which had been trading for around fifty years, blamed a move to people buying tickets on the internet.
Gringo
The fair trade clothing and accessory company, which sold ethnic items from around the world, shut up its shop in Plymouth Street in 2011, after first trading from a unit in St Helen's Road for around 15 years. The company's wholesale business continues, however.
C&A
The international fashion retailer was once on almost every major high street across the UK, having had a presence in the country since 1922. Its last UK store closed in 2001.
Clive Ranger
The jewellers was based in Cardiff and opened in 1977, but also had stores in Swansea, which opened in 1982, and Bath and Bristol. But it went into administration in 2013.
