Closing Down Queens Road Store

[TopCat]

Used to manage a big high street sports chain store and spoke to the company's buyers about stocking albion shirts but when they asked they were told the club had an exclusive deal to stock them. May have changed now (this was several years ago) and a new kit manufacturer could change things.

 

[Simster]

Here in Southampton, Saints have one in the West Quay shopping centre as well as the big one at St.Mary's.

The one in West Quay is pretty small to be honest, and they're a Premier League club!

 

[Sergei's Celebration]

Does irritate me when the only shirts available in Brighton sports shops are Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal. Would be a good move on the clubs part to get our shirts in these shops, in fact it should be law, you want a sports shop in town you stock the local clubs shirt.

As part of the 'largest shirt and merchandise deal' for the club it would be madness not to include this in the contract.

I am probably putting 2 + 2 together and making sausages but; new shirt deal with a big brand + closing of shop + gap in the market for branded shop in Brighton (not sports direct rubbish but a Nike superstore for example) + Churchill square makeover = new branded Nike/Adidas shop in the centre with a dedicated Brighton section.

 

[father_and_son]

I think there are 2 issues there though.

1. Sports Direct would want to heavily discount everything, so not great for business at the Amex.

2. Presence. As long as the store isn't losing stupid money then it is surely better for the club to have a high street presence.
We are supposed to be "Premier League Ready".
What kind of message are we sending out by closing the store?

The discounting in Sports Direct is slightly bent anyway. They have a couple of "full price" shops that sell virtually nothing because its at a ridiculous price and the rest advertise at 70% discount or whatever. Legal but misleading! They tend to sell stuff slightly "out of date" at a substantial genuine discount though. An in-store concession would not need to follow this model because its one store. The Albion would have to pay a "rent" or a "commission" but could otherwise set their own prices. No idea if SD do this anywhere else - it was just a suggestion!

Premier League Ready means not p*ssing away money that could be spent on the squad. I don't think there are that many clubs with second stores away from the ground (happy to be corrected if I'm wrong) so not sure that this is an issue.

I think we should have a greater presence in the city centre, but don't think that needs to be a loss making shop. The mobile unit from around the ground could be there on non-match days and I think AITC should be regulars outside Churchill Sq promoting themselves (and the Club).

 

[father_and_son]

for the amount of fans in west sussex it is a shame there is no shop in say Worthing / Lancing / Littlehampton

Hopefully as mentioned the new deal means we can get stocked in sports shops on local high streets .

While I agree, buying an Albion shirt should be really easy because they are in every sports shop in Sussex, ultimately the club will make more from online sales and in the 21st century this is a reasonable way to go - and very in keeping with PB's attitude.

They could do more with the Official BHA eBay account that would increase the profile somewhat (a handful of signed stuff every few weeks is a bit of a waste of resources IMO - you could have loads of the regular sales stuff on "Buy It Now" and still do the signed stuff from the same account)

 

[Yorkshire-Seagull]

Do other clubs (say Reading , Middlesborugh, Wigan) with out of town stadiums have a city centre shop as well?

Middlesborough have a city centre shop, as do Blackpool and Leeds....

 

[SockMonster]

Aren't Nike opening in Churchill Square?

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

If its losing money and not being used, then its a good decision to close it - especially with the new mobile shop (which was actually announced months ago but yet hasnt actually been anywhere other than Brighton Station). If they can promote the mobile shop well enough it could be a hit.

Similarly, because the mobile van wont have much stock - it should also offer free/discounted delivery for items that arent in stock.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Problem with the Amex store are the match day queues, and non-football fan Mrs Miggins from Walpole Terrace, Portslade is less likely to go to the hassle of getting out to the superstore on non-match days to buy a Jon Obika alarm clock for little Jimothy Miggins than she would have been if she could have taken a bus into town and nipped into the Queens Rd store on her way to buy some sensible underwear in Sparks and Mincers on Western Road.

 

[Lush]

Premier League Ready means not p*ssing away money that could be spent on the squad.

At the end of the day, this.

 

[Superphil]

Middlesborough have a city centre shop, as do Blackpool and Leeds....

West Ham have one at Lakeside and one in Romford, Spurs have one in each of Enfield, Harlow and Stevenage as well as the store at the ground.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

If its losing money and not being used, then its a good decision to close it - especially with the new mobile shop (which was actually announced months ago but yet hasnt actually been anywhere other than Brighton Station). If they can promote the mobile shop well enough it could be a hit.

Similarly, because the mobile van wont have much stock - it should also offer free/discounted delivery for items that arent in stock.

Or (crazy idea I know) why not have TWO mobile vans? One parked seven days a week outside Churchill Square same as the burger van with the lovely-smelling fried onions is. Would have much higher visibility than the current club shop in town. Make it as easy as possible for passing kids to pester their parents for Albion merchandise.

 

[Brian Fantana]

Slight tangent, but any idea what the revenue split between a football club and shirt manufacturer is in these types of deals?

 

[Man of Harveys]

Aren't vans a bit...tinpot? Fine for outside the Priestfield but now?

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Or (crazy idea I know) why not have TWO mobile vans? One parked seven days a week outside Churchill Square same as the burger van with the lovely-smelling fried onions is. Would have much higher visibility than the current club shop in town. Make it as easy as possible for passing kids to pester their parents for Albion merchandise.

Providing the current mobile van does well (which i cant see happening myself as the club wont promote it until the same day it is there), then they would probably have a second van moving across the county. Had the club shop moved from the old Queens Road store to Churchill Sq/Western Road instead of moving across the road - it would have been much busier, but it is a bit out of the way - even if it is on the road to/from the Station.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Aren't vans a bit...tinpot? Fine for outside the Priestfield but now?

Yes. Yes they are. Tinpot, that is. But seeing as how it seems to have been accepted as a given that the club aren't commercially-minded enough to invest in a unit in Churchill Square then every little helps. Jeez, took long enough for the van to be grudgingly supplied

 

[The Large One]

Yes. Yes they are. Tinpot, that is. But seeing as how it seems to have been accepted as a given that the club aren't commercially-minded enough to invest in a unit in Churchill Square then every little helps. Jeez, took long enough for the van to be grudgingly supplied

The rents in Churchill Square are astronomical, with no guarantee of a suitable upturn in sales compared to the (still high) rents paid in Queens Road - 150 yards away.

While a presence in the city centre is - I feel - essential, it would probably be best to site it nearer the Station. While you miss the footfall of those already in Western Road / Churchill Square, you do get better footfall (a) on matchdays and (b) for people like the earlier poster who comes to Brighton once in a while on the train.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

The rents in Churchill Square are astronomical, with no guarantee of a suitable upturn in sales compared to the (still high) rents paid in Queens Road - 150 yards away.

At SOME point the club is going to have to start thinking a wee bit bigger than they are at the moment. Something like 75% of Brighton residents must pass through Churchill Square of a weekend as opposed to, what, 5% maybe, who pass down Queens Road. Seems to me a no-brainer. Might be wrong, tho on a short-term lease what's the worst that could happen?

 

[Hotchilidog]

At SOME point the club is going to have to start thinking a wee bit bigger than they are at the moment. Something like 75% of Brighton residents must pass through Churchill Square of a weekend as opposed to, what, 5% maybe, who pass down Queens Road. Seems to me a no-brainer. Might be wrong, tho on a short-term lease what's the worst that could happen?

Depends on whether they think they will make additional money at a churchill square store or just split the revenue they make already between the two. I think we'd all like to see the Albion have a big presence in the town centre but not if the figures don't add up.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Depends on whether they think they will make additional money at a churchill square store or just split the revenue they make already between the two. I think we'd all like to see the Albion have a big presence in the town centre but not if the figures don't add up.

As of Monday the club's sole shop presence will be at Falmer. Great if you go to the home games. But there's huge numbers of B&H residents who don't but would still like to buy an Albion shirt/birthday card/mobile phone cover for a friend or family member. Seems a tad short-sighted to me for the club not to take a punt on a town centre site.
On the other hand... meh!