The current club shop is naff. A converted shipping container dropped at the side of the stadium. (although it could remain open for match days - here me out please!) 

Here's a new idea, you decide whether it's good, bad or indifferent etc. I realise it's not directly a football matter, but is clearly club related. 

I suggest the old Farmfoods building in Academy Street is a good site. There is currently a redevelopment etc of Academy Street ongoing (academystreet.org). Why not have the City's only senior football team involved and situated in this historical part of the 'town'? 

I am no business guru, but the premises that was the shop floor of Farmfoods is quite large. The front section could be a shop / cafe. The rear could be panelled off with see through panels and be a soft play / football pitch area. Kids could play with sponge footballs as a safety measure (I realise there would be other H&S issues). 

The cafe area could be an earner in my opinion. Paid staff would be required but volunteers could assist as is done with charity shops. Also Inverness secondary school kids could maybe do volunteering / work experience there on Friday afternoons now that they have a half day on Fridays. There are various organisations such as Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and Inverness BID that could maybe assist and or provide guidance. 

Club wise, it would maybe get young kids 'interested' in our club and I am sure business minded folk amongst us could contribute suggestions, tips etc. 

Thoughts on this? 

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 20177 yr by Guest

They should recommission Cath's van and fit it oot with all the club regalia, and then drive all over toon, selling the stuff, along with rolls, butteries, and the like, and the vendor would have a pencil behind his ear, glued on like.

4 hours ago, ictchris said:

There are hardly any shops in the city centre anymore, let alone a Caley shop.

 City centre shops are money pits.

The council charges too much in business rates. 

11 hours ago, dougiedanger said:

They should recommission Cath's van and fit it oot with all the club regalia, and then drive all over toon, selling the stuff, along with rolls, butteries, and the like, and the vendor would have a pencil behind his ear, glued on like.

That may well be one idea that could actually work.

See there are a couple of new tartan shops opened in Inverness one in the Eastgate and one opposite Primark. Maybe it would worth making an approach to see if there was any scope to promote our merchandise in there. Worth a shout to try and get some self promotion on the high street before RC decide to capitalize on our apathy.

Lets be honest how many tartan scarves can any tourist need, give them want they really want ......a black and white away strip with Seedorf  on the back.........Winner. 

1 hour ago, forresjags said:

See there are a couple of new tartan shops opened in Inverness one in the Eastgate and one opposite Primark. Maybe it would worth making an approach to see if there was any scope to promote our merchandise in there. Worth a shout to try and get some self promotion on the high street before RC decide to capitalize on our apathy.

Lets be honest how many tartan scarves can any tourist need, give them want they really want ......a black and white away strip with Seedorf  on the back.........Winner. 

'forresjags' tartan shops in town centre are a possibility.

Or how about a stall in the Eastgate Centre or Victorian Market staffed by volunteers? As I said charity shops would not survive without volunteers. Being a bit stereotypical here but I am sure there are a few grannies who would do this for their grandchildren and for the good of a local cause. Maybe it could be open during the tourist season, the festive period, and be a basic stall that prevents any thieving?

Failing that, how about vending machines in the Eastgate Centre, Victorian Market and Tourist Info shop on High Street. These could sell scarves, hats, mugs and small things. 

I think I will apply for the next seies of 'The Apprentice' now lol. 

Edited July 21, 20177 yr by Guest

1 minute ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Tad harsh!! I haven't even applied yet 

17 hours ago, Renegade said:

I remember watching a mini-documentary on Rosenborg once and I'm sure they had a cafe (though I think it may have at their stadium).  It's a nice idea but we're too backwards in Britain to do something like that.  If it was done right and done well I'm sure it'd get plenty of clientele from fans and well wishers and I'd certainly rather pay my money there than the likes of Costa or Starbucks (who certainly don't need your cash).  It would have be done well though.  A soulless concrete room like the stadium bar or a dump like the Caley Club, would certainly not be blueprints.

Totally agree with all that - I used the example of the Mountain Cafe in Aviemore to illustrate that point - the premises are nothing fancy (& too small for the demand - often have to queue to get in), but the food & (especially) the baking is awesome!

4 hours ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

That may well be one idea that could actually work.

Love it!!

1 hour ago, Caman said:

Tad harsh!! I haven't even applied yet 

Being a kindly seer I thought I would forewarn you ?

On 20/07/2017 at 6:24 PM, Caman said:

Given my name, 'Caman' I support the shinty bit and other Inverness teams, but Nairn County? (lol) 

Maybe ICT can find a spot in the new tourist information shop on the High Street? Maybe sell merchandise from there as the town is hoaching with tourists. There is something like 50% more crusie ships this year at Invergordon than last year. I'm sure some tourists that are football fans might buy a scarf, which is more likely than a shirt. Every penny helps 

Mock the wee county all we like 

They have their own shop on Nairn High Street. Went past it the other day

1 hour ago, bauhaus said:

Mock the wee county all we like 

They have their own shop on Nairn High Street. Went past it the other day

Maybe we could get a corner of that shop or a shelf even? 

On 21/07/2017 at 11:02 AM, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

That may well be one idea that could actually work.

Daft as it may sound, that could work. Just imagine a little truck like that doing the rounds of the local area catching all the tourists. It quirky - tourists like quirky.

On 7/21/2017 at 3:07 PM, jingsmonty said:

Totally agree with all that - I used the example of the Mountain Cafe in Aviemore to illustrate that point - the premises are nothing fancy (& too small for the demand - often have to queue to get in), but the food & (especially) the baking is awesome!

Overpriced coffee shop imo. Pretty average. 

Can we keep this thread on topic please, interesting as it is to have a Tripadviser type review of purveyors of caffeinated beverages and cake in Badenoch and Strathspey.

I was just using MT Aviemore as an example of what can be achieved with relaticely modest premises..agree that the council could do more to encourage small businesses to open up in the city centre, especiallydown at that end of Academy St.

Hopefully some fruit will come from Caman's excellent idea.

5 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

Can we keep this thread on topic please, interesting as it is to have a Tripadviser type review of purveyors of caffeinated beverages and cake in Badenoch and Strathspey.

 

Do we actually have enough demand for a shop in town?

In the past we have had stock in the Eastgate Centre in Debenhams, Zoo and a stall unit. On no occasion did I ever actually see anyone buying anything.

Hard to see how sales will be sufficient to justify this.

58 minutes ago, Tree said:

Do we actually have enough demand for a shop in town?

In the past we have had stock in the Eastgate Centre in Debenhams, Zoo and a stall unit. On no occasion did I ever actually see anyone buying anything.

Hard to see how sales will be sufficient to justify this.

Lets just do f***k all then and watch RC take the iniative.

We need to to at least try and connect with the city, have a presence.

Debenhams and Zoo was a half arsed attempt, surely in this day we could try and do better.

 

 

 

 

 

Remember posting here yonks ago about how in most tourist cities you can buy jerseys of the local team in tourist shops. Why not ICT jerseys in the tartan tat shops? Something genuinely Scaddish and Invernessian to take back to Littleville, Wyoming?

 

While some of the suggestions above may or may not be practical or feasible, at least it shows the fans are thinking and trying to be innovative in terms of ideas. Is the club?

Does the club shop have one of those machines that prints names and numbers on the shirts? If not then I think that would be a more realistic investment. A lot of kids got shirts in the summer and I'm sure most of them would want numbers etc on the back. I'm sure this would be very doable for the club and give them a wee bit of extra cash.

17 minutes ago, Sir C the 3rd said:

Does the club shop have one of those machines that prints names and numbers on the shirts? If not then I think that would be a more realistic investment. A lot of kids got shirts in the summer and I'm sure most of them would want numbers etc on the back. I'm sure this would be very doable for the club and give them a wee bit of extra cash.

They haven't done official shirt names and numbers for many a year. In fact I don't think anywhere in town does anymore. Apparently you have to buy a minimum amount of them and it didn't wash it's own face. 

2 hours ago, KirkieRobRoy said:

Remember posting here yonks ago about how in most tourist cities you can buy jerseys of the local team in tourist shops. Why not ICT jerseys in the tartan tat shops? Something genuinely Scaddish and Invernessian to take back to Littleville, Wyoming?

 

While some of the suggestions above may or may not be practical or feasible, at least it shows the fans are thinking and trying to be innovative in terms of ideas. Is the club?

Exactly, these are city centre outlets(maybe tartan tat is being slightly unfair) that see plenty of visitors, unlike the back of the shop at Debenhams that we once tried.

I feel we just need to get a foothold in the city somehow to generate additional interest in the club.

 

with regards to the names and numbers, the club must have the facility to do it for the team kits so surely its just buying stock of numbers and letters?

tartan shops would be good to stock some form of merchandise (scarf, pennant, pen, mug etc) and what about tesco stocking stuff in terms of tops, training kit and the other stuff.

 

5 hours ago, Fraz said:

They haven't done official shirt names and numbers for many a year. In fact I don't think anywhere in town does anymore. Apparently you have to buy a minimum amount of them and it didn't wash it's own face. 

I might be wrong but, I think Double T in the Victorian Market still do it....

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!)