The country’s first space store has closed its doors in Didcot after almost three years.

Space Store sold space merchandise, offered immersive experiences, and ran a cafe out of its site in the Orchard Centre since June 2019.

Visitors were able to try on a space suit, explore the caves of Mars via VR technology and watch live feeds from NASA’s Space Centre.

Yesterday, it opened its doors for the last time as it was announced the store would combine with its second location at Oxford’s Covered Market, which opened in July 2022.

A statement posted on its website said: “We’re making some changes at Space Store. For the time being, Space Store Didcot is combining with our Oxford store to bring you the best experiences yet.

“This means that our doors at the Orchard Centre Didcot will be closing on Sunday 26 February 2023.

"We’re really sad to inform all of our Didcot-based customers that you’ll have to travel a bit further for your favourite space shop, over to our Oxford store located at 118 Covered Market, OX1 3DZ.

“As a start-up, this has been a really hard decision to make, and we’re committed to continue bringing space experiences to everyone.

“You can still support us by checking out our experiences in Oxford, in particular, our new Mission to the Moon, as well as all of our unique space gifts and merchandise. And of course, our online shop also remains available right here.”

Founder Stephen Ringler created the store as a way of making the world-leading scientific research going on in Oxfordshire more accessible.

The Didcot store was developed with scientists at the Harwell Campus.