The Quality of the City Shop - again! Compare it to Hull’s

[weepywall]

23 minutes ago, The Horse With No Name said:

Beach towels. Surely the club are missing a trick because they would sell bucketloads.

Can buy them at the Three Lions, you can get the Scott Murray at Cardiff one.

[Selred]

3 minutes ago, weepywall said:

Can buy them at the Three Lions, you can get the Scott Murray at Cardiff one.

Did have a look, but I want one with the City badge on. 

[elhombrecito]

1 hour ago, SouthStand Sandwich said:

I'll give you another example .... Malaga CF ... In Spain's second division... They have a club shop in the middle of the city as well as at the ground... Fantastically well stocked... Few items like a replica team bus and replica model of the ground... How great would it be if we have these in the city shop rather than leaking water bottles and stress balls? The shop really is embarrassing. I'd love it if external vendors set up outside the ground offering non authorised city gear... It would give some competition to the  crap thats currently in the store...  

As you can probably tell from my avatar, I've been in that shop a number of times. It's probably about a quarter the size of City's shop but somehow seems to have a greater variety of merchandise and better stock levels. They are currently fighting relegation from la segunda, so they're a pretty relevant comparison (recent-ish top flight and Champions League appearances aside!!).

[tin]

Our club shop has been a joke IMO, possibly since we dumped Adidas.

My first child arrived in 2020 and I was surprised to see they didn’t offer babygrows. I dug a little deeper and saw there was next to nothing for kids. 

[elhombrecito]

23 minutes ago, tin said:

Our club shop has been a joke IMO, possibly since we dumped Adidas.

My first child arrived in 2020 and I was surprised to see they didn’t offer babygrows. I dug a little deeper and saw there was next to nothing for kids. 

They definitely do now, as I have bought mine two separate designs this year.

[Denbury Red]

1 hour ago, Jerseybean said:

Point well made DR have you shared this with our SLO? He might be able to use the feedback / suggestion to change things. 

I haven't but I will - not sure Jerry will have anymore luck at influencing the right people than me!

Time will tell!!

[Rocking Red Cyril]

The madness of having three teams stuff in one shop is crazy. The whole space in the shop needs to be Bristol City end off. I am sorry to the rugby and basketball but you can bog off elsewhere. 

[Tinmans Love Child]

3 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

Having led the moans about the rewards offer ending on Friday instead of yesterday, I ended up not going in there. The queues before and after the game were so long I thought I couldn't be bothered to get in and probably find that my £10 off didn't extend to a stationery set for my granddaughter.

I agree that the choice is poor and the shop is the least fit for purpose part of the stadium redesign.

If the club want to do it properly and serve the men and women's teams in football and rugby and the flyers, they should  look  to rent the space that is vacant in the retail park, or open plan the bar, coffee shop and retail shop to create a space similar to those branded American bars. It worked for Hard Rock and others, so why not?

I was chatting to a friend last week who was in America recently and in the same arena he watched an ice hockey team, and the next day two different basketball teams who played one game in the afternoon and the other team played in the evening, and he said the stadium including the shop completely changed stock and branding depending on which of the 3 teams was playing.  He even went in to buy some merchandise for the ice hockey team when one of the basketball teams was playing and they said come back when they play!

Edited May 1, 2022 by Tinmans Love Child

[Tinmans Love Child]

39 minutes ago, tin said:

Our club shop has been a joke IMO, possibly since we dumped Adidas.

My first child arrived in 2020 and I was surprised to see they didn’t offer babygrows. I dug a little deeper and saw there was next to nothing for kids. 

Agreed, my daughter was born March 2020 and I had to buy a ‘City Born and Bred’ baby grow from some eBay site as City had nothing much apart from the mini kit, which is crazy really as there’s so much stuff they could stock including clothes, baby bottles, plates and bowls, dummies, bibs, which I’m sure would be a popular range for those with kids or those buying for new parents etc

[DolmanDave]

As others have said I've tried from near start of the season to buy some leisurewear..  not my size in.. looked various times over the course of the season.. Still not in stock.. 

 

Ended up using my rewards on a mug.. overwhelmed! 

[Tinmans Love Child]

11 minutes ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

The madness of having three teams stuff in one shop is crazy. The whole space in the shop needs to be Bristol City end off. I am sorry to the rugby and basketball but you can bog off elsewhere. 

During the week when no games on I can’t see an issue with all 3 teams merch out, but on match days for City have all City stuff and match days for Rugby have all rugby stuff, wouldnt take that much effort to sort out surely

Edited May 1, 2022 by Tinmans Love Child

[Rocking Red Cyril]

3 minutes ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

During the week when no games on I can’t see an issue with all 3 teams merch out, but on match days for City have all City stuff and match days for Rugby have all rugby stuff, would take that much effort

Top idea 

[Barrs Court Red]

It’s woeful in terms of range, which is frustrating as what they do put out is generally decent stuff. 
 

To give an example of where Bristol Sport (I’m assuming merch is their operation) they’ve missed out on at least £30 off me in the last couple of weeks.

1) boy needs a gum shield  for rugby.  Can’t see any sold on the online store.  How hard can it be to produce and store a bears branded plastic mouth piece? 

2) Boy also really wants the city home keeper shirt.  Whenever I’ve checked it’s been out of stock. Annoying, but one of those things.  Then this week, an advert pops up advertising it for £20 - I click the link and…sold out in all sizes. 
 

Fingers crossed the new arena build will mean the retail side of things improves 10 fold, because for a club that’s often pleading poverty, it doesn’t really seem to try very hard to increase revenue streams. 
 

[REDOXO]

It seems a bit strange that Bristol Sport do not have a Superstore in town. You could buy match tickets make club enquirers and sell lots of shit too! Player appearances would be great and little charitable events and any amount of community out reach. 
 

I think we are still restricted even now with a small town small club culture and attitude. The place only needs to pay for itself any profit really is a bonus. 

[Isawjonshaw]

5 hours ago, sticks 1969 said:

It’s been really crap for many years 

Sorry to be pedantic 

[Tinmans Love Child]

8 minutes ago, REDOXO said:

It seems a bit strange that Bristol Sport do not have a Superstore in town. You could buy match tickets make club enquirers and sell lots of shit too! Player appearances would be great and little charitable events and any amount of community out reach. 
 

I think we are still restricted even now with a small town small club culture and attitude. The place only needs to pay for itself any profit really is a bonus. 

They had a pop up shop in cabots at Christmas a few years back, I guess rental for a shop in town will be very high so might not be worth it?

[Bristol Rob]

Be interesting to know what percentage of transactions are digital and what are in store.

 

[Rich]

I've been in the shop a few times and been really disappointed at the choice of goods available. I understand that the club want to maximise profits by having in house manufacturers but, when you can only choose from a small stock base, surely that limits the possible profits as well. The size and availability of merchandise to choose from is quite frankly embarrassing. The shop is barely big enough for just City merchandise, let alone the other two.

Another thing that rankles with me is, not seeing any City related merchandise in any other outlets. It's no wonder we're seen as a little club when you can buy a Norwich, West Brom or Rovers kit and coffee mug, in multiple outlets but, not a City one. The thrill I used to get from being able to buy a City badge in a shop in Newquay as a kid, will stay with me forever. Long time supporters have been gained by raising the awareness of the club to people far and wide, the Scandinavians are proof of that. I think we're missing a trick with the blinkered approach to promoting the club in this way.

 

[Bristol Rob]

2 hours ago, The Horse With No Name said:

Beach towels. Surely the club are missing a trick because they would sell bucketloads.

And spades.

#Holiday

[REDOXO]

12 minutes ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

They had a pop up shop in cabots at Christmas a few years back, I guess rental for a shop in town will be very high so might not be worth it?

Possibly. I haven’t been to the City Center in a while, so don’t know how much un used decent space there is to at least take something for a decent test. 
 

With multiple brands sharing what is clearly too small a spot at AG as remarked upon in this thread a town presence is the obvious solution. But if I guess as you more than imply if it’s not a goer financially and the publicity out reach and ancillary benefits don’t weigh in much I guess we Best Buy our stuff online, ensuring we have/Bristol Rugby/Bristol Sport don’t have a focal point inside the City center. 

Edited May 1, 2022 by REDOXO

[Jerseybean]

3 hours ago, Denbury Red said:

I haven't but I will - not sure Jerry will have anymore luck at influencing the right people than me!

Time will tell!!

[Redrascal2]

How much income have  the club lost by having such a poor club shop. I would imagine it would be very sizeable. And the Rugby seems about the same. Surely Gould should look at this and take some action.

[RumRed]

Who actually buys this stuff? I can understand buying it for kids but otherwise .

[Rudolf Hucker]

Having pondered on this for most of the day, I’ve decided, f’ck it, in future I’m going to support Hull. 
 

OTIH. 

[Denbury Red]

4 hours ago, REDOXO said:

Possibly. I haven’t been to the City Center in a while, so don’t know how much un used decent space there is to at least take something for a decent test. 
 

With multiple brands sharing what is clearly too small a spot at AG as remarked upon in this thread a town presence is the obvious solution. But if I guess as you more than imply if it’s not a goer financially and the publicity out reach and ancillary benefits don’t weigh in much I guess we Best Buy our stuff online, ensuring we have/Bristol Rugby/Bristol Sport don’t have a focal point inside the City center. 

They did try in the City Centre - but as mentioned the rental cost must be excessive and how many people go into City centres these days - I haven’t been in one for probably 5 years.

It would make more sense having a shop in The Mall - footfall is huge, and surely would attract a worthwhile revenue!

[Sir Geoff]

6 minutes ago, Denbury Red said:

They did try in the City Centre - but as mentioned the rental cost must be excessive and how many people go into City centres these days - I haven’t been in one for probably 5 years.

It would make more sense having a shop in The Mall - footfall is huge, and surely would attract a worthwhile revenue!

That's fairly recent, I haven't been to a shopping centre for 10 years or more. So many reasons not to.

As for the City store, I have tried going in a few times this season but it is so cramped (not good with covid still about) that I have turned round and walked straight out (except before the Peterborough game when I chanced it for my 'free' rewards mug).

[RedRock]

You’d have thought that someone by now would have invented a clothes rail with legs and wheels, so products can be moved around to fit different sports day match demand. If the business was that short-sighted not to have a storeroom nearby, would have thought bringing a shipping container into the car park to store products would have been cost effective.

Given up with the commercial side of our operation. Ever since Beryl left its been worse than useless. Range, stock availability, display - all abysmal.

[REDOXO]

44 minutes ago, Denbury Red said:

They did try in the City Centre - but as mentioned the rental cost must be excessive and how many people go into City centres these days - I haven’t been in one for probably 5 years.

It would make more sense having a shop in The Mall - footfall is huge, and surely would attract a worthwhile revenue!

The Mall is a good choice. Was the previous shop all Bristol Sport teams I can’t remember. I seem to remember a hundred years ago Bears had a shop in town  is that right?

[Street red]

8 hours ago, daored said:

I’ve contacted our SLO about the lack of products available in the club shop for a while now with absolutely no reply. With the financial position the club is in you’d think they would want to increase products available to generate extra income. We’re miles behind many clubs in merchandise. @Street redI live by Leeds and the club shop at the ground is well stocked and they have a club shop in the city centre (I appreciate they’re a bigger club and a bigger fan base than us) but their club shop is always busy. Our club shop is closed today and tomorrow and when I asked the reply was it’s a bank holiday weekend !!

Don't city still have a shop in the centre or cribbs? Not sure if you know Always thought they did.Clubs 39 million in debt but they close a revenue stream on a bank holiday is the through put of customers that bad.

[Dredd]

7 hours ago, The Horse With No Name said:

Beach towels. Surely the club are missing a trick because they would sell bucketloads.

I did actually buy a club beach towel from the shop on Saturday. This was about 12.30 and there were only 2 left so they possibly went quickly too. 
To echo previous points, a lack of imagination blights our shop, it wouldn’t be difficult to get some feedback on this, let’s be honest this thread alone should be a goldmine for them. 
Moving merchandise around on a match day depending on who is using the stadium shouldn’t be too difficult either. 
 

The other thing i miss is the end of season discounts. The club have obviously made the decision that it’s better to sell out of some shirts by Christmas and not restock than have enough to go to the end of the season and sell them off for 15/20 quid like they used to. Always a good chance to buy a shirt for the nephew for cheap for the summer.