The Original Factory Shop has announced that stores within Co-operative supermarkets in Machynlleth and Lampeter have closed.

The discount retailer fell into administration on Wednesday.

The Original Factory Shop has standalone stores in Cardigan, Barmouth, Porthmadog and Pwllheli and stores within Co-operative supermarkets in Machynlleth and Lampeter.

Posting about its closure on Thursday, The Original Factory Shop Lampeter wrote: "A heartfelt thank you to our community.

"We want to say a huge thank you to all of our wonderful customers for your continued support over the years. It has genuinely meant the world to us to be part of this community.

"Unfortunately, due to our contract not being renewed, today will be our final day of trading. While this is not the outcome we would have hoped for, we are incredibly grateful for the loyalty, kindness, and support you have shown our team.

"From everyone here, thank you for shopping with us, supporting us, and making this store such a special place."

A similar post appeared on The Original Factory Shop Machynlleth page, which read: "Prynhawn da, we are no longer trading in Machynlleth. Thankyou for your support over the years. diolch yn fawr."

The standalone Barmouth store posted a photo and wrote: "We are business as usual today!

"Please come and support us during this difficult time, every pound you spend could be a step closer to saving us!

"We would appreciate if you remember that there is a wonderful team here that are still proudly doing their jobs with a smile, so please be kind."

The team in Porthmadog wrote: "We have been getting a lot of questions in store in regards to what is currently happening with the original factory shop.

"Since we have had an update yesterday now seemed a good time to let people know rather than leaving it to gossip.

"Yesterday we officially entered administration. While there is still a small slither of hope that we could be saved, we are preparing ourselves for the worst.

"We will be starting to hold a closing down sale starting today (Thursday) and we ask that you please support us as if sales aren't as high as expected we have been told that we could be gone a lot sooner.

"Obviously there are 8 of us that work here and this is a very sad time for us as we have all worked together for many years.

"We ask that you please be respectful when asking us questions in regards to the store closing as we currently don't have an answer but when we do we will update you.

Many thanks for all the years of support, The Porthmadog Team."

The Original Factory Shop has 137 stores nationwide, with 1,180 members of staff.

Administrators Interpath said the outlet had experienced challenging trading conditions, driven by rising costs, fewer shoppers, and government policies which led to "significant increases" in staff costs.

The chain's shops will continue to trade as normal as the administrators assess options, but the company's online shop is closing with immediate effect.

It was sold less than a year ago to private equity firm Modella Capital.