A £1.5m carbon neutral food market in Devon has gone into administration three months after it opened, with the loss of 60 jobs.
Foodeaze owner Nick Hess said it could not compete with the new £220m Princesshay development in Exeter.
The sustainable food business, based in St George's Hall Market, used locally sourced produce and all transit vehicles ran on bio-diesel.
Mr Hess said the development in Southernhay had had a huge impact.
He said within five weeks of opening they were close to their break-even forecast point, but then the opening of the new development in April had a bigger impact than originally forecast.
"We put a percentage into our business plan the effect we thought it was going to have but unfortunately it was far greater than what we actually forecasted," he said.
"The new development is stunning and I'm not criticising it - it's just unfortunately one of those things of bad timing."
"I just wanted to prove that it can be done and you don't have to wait until 2012 to do something, you can actually make a difference now."
Sixty per cent of Foodeaze's business was with restaurants and bars while 40% was food retail.
Mr Hess said it was the restaurant and bar section which could not compete and that the retail side had continued to grow.
"All we want to do is bring fresh food and vegetables back to the high street but with a slight twist being that everything you can eat in the establishment is prepared from the local market."
Spokesperson for the Princesshay development, Emma Blackwell, said as it was an individual business, the development could not comment.
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