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Club Shop - Academy Street?


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There is absolutely no doubt that the club needs to develop sales of merchandise from its longstanding arrangement of selling strips which haven't arrived yet from a clapped out portakabin with completely uncertain opening hours which is located more than a mile from the city centre.  The problem is that there's a kind of Catch 22 situation where you can't start shifting the stuff until you have a viable outlet, but you can't afford a viable outlet until you have started shifting more stuff - and you don't have the necessary finances to be able to risk a failure.

A relatively small supporter base tends to compound the problem and I think there is also a confidence issue. In other words, because over the years stuff has been late - sometimes very late - in arriving, the street cred of ICT merchandising isn't very good either. It seems that merchandising sales have been consistently failing to reach the kind of critical mass which would allow them to take off properly. I must also say that I am wondering if Hospitality has traditionally suffered from what's effectively the same problem? I am stating that as a question, since I haven't experienced hospitality for some years, but on the other hand I keep hearing adverse comments about it, and the lack of demand for it. The two issues may well be related. I don't know for sure.

"Tartan tat shops" seems to be rather too generous a term for the toe curling premises in question, but indeed, why not try to interest these places in taking some ICT strips so the Tuwwerists can take something "Scaddish" back to "Littleville, Wyoming" (loved that one Kirkie!)

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The club do need to do something better than the portacabin. That is fine for matchdays but on other days its not going to generate much in the way of passing trade or tourist trade. 

If a permanent shop is not feasible then what about a so-called 'pop-up shop' somewhere in the city centre for the summer? There is usually no shortage of empty units in the centre unfortunately and it might be a good idea. I have seen dozens of these in Toronto over the last couple of years from varying sellers, including Toronto FC and artists like Drake or the Weeknd to brands such as Adidas, Nike and others ... They open a place for a week and in the case of TFC they locate it 'uptown' and sell stuff to people in some parts of the city who cant get down to the official club shop to buy as well as some exclusive gear only available at that location for the duration. [Although they have matchday kiosks inside the stadium, the club shop in Toronto is located a couple of miles from the stadium inside the Air Canada Centre where the Raptors and Maple Leafs play so its a one-stop shop for all teams]    

I do like the idea of a 'multi-purpose' venue so that it does not have to rely solely on merchandise sales and could perhaps have a cafe or meeting place of some sort but as many have said, that would require more upfront investment and perhaps a longer turnaround time to start making a profit (if ever) .... I may not be looking for a bit of 'Scaddish' tat for my friends in 'littleville Wyoming' but on my recent trip home I did make purchases in the big new shop on Bridge Street. It was huge and had all I needed for friends and colleagues back in Toronto ... a lot of the exact same stuff as the Woolen Mill but at significantly lower prices .... It was also very busy. busier I would say than the little tartan stores on the other side of Bridge street or in the market. If ICT could tap into that then I am sure it could be a goldmine. 

The other way it could be done - and again this is speculative - is that instead of asking retailers to stock ICT merchandise, you have your own shop and invite small, local businesses to peddle their wares inside the ICT store ... the kind of (non perishable) goods you might find at a farmers market or craft fair. I saw this in a few galleries and other shops in Iceland last year and it seemed to be a decent idea. Maybe its something that BID (and former ICT chief exec Mike Smith !!!) could look into not just for ICT but to make empty shopfronts available on a short term basis like this for others or to assist in actually helping small businesses in an attempt to re-invigorate what has become a depressingly dingy and uninteresting city centre.      

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Is the Victorian Market not pushed as some kind of tourist attraction to some degree? If so, and I am probably imaging it, a wee shop in there could be an idea. Last time I went through the place there was a load of empty units although I seem to recall folk saying the rents are quite high in there.

It would certainly tick the "location" box anyway and you wouldn't need to take a massive one (oo er) on.

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