Shopped

[Buckeyed]

I can certainly see the downsides of a shop which could potentially flop. Maybe an alternative would be to strike up deals with local independent sports shops (not the chains) that would sell the merchandise. This would help the smaller retailers to get more people through the doors, and it would help city with low set up cost and a wider audience.

[ChippenhamRed]

8 minutes ago, cider-manc said:

Are they not? Maybe not for those of us who already attend regularly but we are hopefully looking to convince others to come and join us and fill our brand new stands. If the shop is there selling shirts etc then it should sell tickets. I'm not saying that we should set up a box office specifically to sell tickets.

We are a large city with people from all walks of life. Just because you like to order from your sofa in your pants doesn't mean that everyone feels the same or lives in the same circumstances.

Manchester City has a shop on Market street (Manchester's main high street) and I know plenty of people who use it for tickets. 

 

 

 

I don't disagree that if you're going to have a shop it should sell tickets. That would seem logical. I just don't think it is enough of a reason in itself to justify the shop itself.

There may be a group of people who prefer to buy in person. But you are only generating additional sales if these people will ONLY buy in person and refuse to use alternative means (online, phone) already available. That would be a very limited - and strange! - group of people. If these people do exist I wonder how they survive in 21st century Britain!

I still don't think match tickets are an impulse purchase. You need to establish the availability of yourself and your friends first. It's something you tend to organise in advance.

That said, I'm not saying no one would use the service - but it has to be a significant number to justify the running costs. I am very doubtful about the economics.

[jambodinho]

Any idea if any city, rovers or rugby merchandise is available in the airport? I'm pretty sure every major airport I've been through has at least a small selection of the local team's souvenirs. T-shirts, soft toys, key rings etc. Granted most of these major airports are in city's with major sports teams but we do get a fair bit of tourism here from abroad. 

[Monkeh]

2 hours ago, NeilS said:

Get the right people in, would work.  

No it wouldn't we aren't a big enough team, just not cost effective and most shopping these days is done online

[Silvio Dante]

Few points as not looked in for a while:

Shop definitely has to sell tickets. Bristol ticket shop is a bit of an unfair comparison though because that's all it does. Hence small unit, smaller rent, no fancy decor etc. I see the bigger value though being for away tickets - as those by nature have to be posted or picked up

All major clubs (and some not so) do have a city centre shop. However that tends to be established when the club are at the top level and there is more money to use as a wider marketing piece. Valid point though.

Going to independent sports shops isn't viable - none in the centre and how many in all? Would love the idea, but doesn't stack

The coffee part is an interesting angle. May need different usage though, and all of these are again driving to bigger unit!

Bristol City Cafe on Park Street anyone??

 

[Charliesboots]

4 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

The rent may not be all that much.  I've seen rents for similar developments and for office space in some of London's big skyscrapers.  It's more important to them that the place is full (which I think Cabot is?).  You'd probably get at least the first year rent free and then it really might not be that much afterwards.  I'm sure someone could correct me on this though.

You couldn't be further from the reality here. 

I signed off a 6.5k sqft store in Cabot a year ago at a rental of over 450k pa, service charge of 220k repeating 70k pa. 

In terms of retail space Bristol & Bath are second only to Central London and I'm talking Oxford, Regent & Bond Streets here. 

Im glad we're not wasting our money on retail space as the ROI will be minimal, in fact I'd say it'll be loss making.

Ready made FREE space at the stadium is our best option not forgetting an active multi channel offer (website).  

[Charliesboots]

4 hours ago, Super said:

Do any of the sports shops around sell City stuff?

Yes Sportsdirect do, mostly web has the bigger offer  

 

[Charliesboots]

4 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

A ground floor unit in the Galleries would cost about £55,000 rent pa for the size the club would probably want. Smaller units about £25,000. This excludes rates and any other obligations, fit out costs etc. You may get rent free for 12 months, but that generally means a higher commitment in years 2-5 (can't just walk away!). If you add in staff costs for 2 staff minimum, the shop would be a £100-£150k p/a commitment minimum. Or 3500 more shirts each year. Maybe in the premier, unlikely in the championship....

Please do tell me who your agent is as I'd employ them tomorrow if they got deals like that for me!

[Silvio Dante]

5 minutes ago, Charliesboots said:

Please do tell me who your agent is as I'd employ them tomorrow if they got deals like that for me!

http://retail.savills.co.uk/search?keyword=Bristol&form=property&unit=ft&type_in=&region=&amount-per-page=25

Welcome.

[Charliesboots]

Right, please trust me on this one OTIB ....

If I thought I could make a City / Rugby store work I'd open one myself. 

I know it wouldn't work so I wouldn't waste my shareholders money on it. 

Perspective - Newcastle United are currently closing their club shop in central Newcastle. If MA cannot make a club shop work then Bristol Sport have absolutely no chance of doing it. 

MA has closed Rangers shops for precisely the same reason. 

Single brand sport shops don't work unless you are Nike, Adidas, Man United, Real Madrid, Barcelona. 

[Charliesboots]

6 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

http://retail.savills.co.uk/search?keyword=Bristol&form=property&unit=ft&type_in=&region=&amount-per-page=25

Welcome.

Too much money mate, cap ex plus GP wouldn't have nothing left at the end of the year. 

[Silvio Dante]

1 minute ago, Charliesboots said:

Too much money mate, cap ex plus GP wouldn't have nothing left at the end of the year. 

And probably not arguing with you, been fairly consistent here that this has to be a marketing play/loss leader and I do see it in the Prem for that reason but not where we are today

[Charliesboots]

1 minute ago, Silvio Dante said:

And probably not arguing with you, been fairly consistent here that this has to be a marketing play/loss leader and I do see it in the Prem for that reason but not where we are today

Absolutely agree. Stoke City have a store in The Potteries centre in Stoke but occupy a tiny what appears to be untenable rental position for any others to take it. 

I think it's a legacy rent from a deal signed in ancient times so they get it for next to nothing, for us to do it we'd have to spend money we wouldn't see back. 

Now a Cafe/ticket shop that's interesting but it'll have to be pretty generic to not put off trade. 

[ExiledAjax]

5 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

The rent may not be all that much.  I've seen rents for similar developments and for office space in some of London's big skyscrapers.  It's more important to them that the place is full (which I think Cabot is?).  You'd probably get at least the first year rent free and then it really might not be that much afterwards.  I'm sure someone could correct me on this though.

Called it.

32 minutes ago, Charliesboots said:

You couldn't be further from the reality here. 

I signed off a 6.5k sqft store in Cabot a year ago at a rental of over 450k pa, service charge of 220k repeating 70k pa. 

In terms of retail space Bristol & Bath are second only to Central London and I'm talking Oxford, Regent & Bond Streets here. 

Im glad we're not wasting our money on retail space as the ROI will be minimal, in fact I'd say it'll be loss making.

Ready made FREE space at the stadium is our best option not forgetting an active multi channel offer (website).  

Cheers.

I also wasn't aware that other clubs were closing their offerings in town centres.  I kind of guessed that Bristol Sport were focussing on internet and stadium based sales anyway...which was partly what drove my OP.

[T R]

I like the sound of having a ticket shop. I think it would be a good idea in the right location. Also they could sell football merchandise as well. It has to sell tickets of everything you can think of, music, theatre, art, museum. Even selling train tickets for football fans on a discount if you are a season ticket holder. They could also do this online, over the phone and in person, they could probably do this far better than we could at the moment. This is especially good for when the new music arena is built. And the new ice skating rink at ashton vale  

[Charliesboots]

23 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Called it.

Cheers.

I also wasn't aware that other clubs were closing their offerings in town centres.  I kind of guessed that Bristol Sport were focussing on internet and stadium based sales anyway...which was partly what drove my OP.

I agree in principle that having a city centre store is desirable. 

The way of the high street has other ideas so best to consolidate in our own stadium and use the web to do the work. 

Right to raise the discussion point though, I like the idea of a central coffee shop though as previous posters have mentioned... That could be viable. 

[Charliesboots]

12 minutes ago, NeilS said:

Most shopping is done online? No it's not quite yet, besides what about the impromptu purchases? I am sure people still do that, passing a shop and just pop in and buy something they wouldn't have done online. What's all this we are not a big enough team err club? I think, of course we are, some folk are happy for us to stay small and not reaching out, I guess you are one?

The last business I was involved in our website accounted for 1/3 of all sales, and bearing in mind this is a FTSE 100 company. So web sales are significant.

Web is on trend to out pace high street in sales, the trick however that most haven't worked out is making a profit (see Amazon)....yet.

Until then High St wins as money in your pocket counts for everything. 

As for being big enough for an independent shop, we aren't.

As much as I want to agree with you and believe we're big enough to sustain one. We can't. 

[Lanterne Rouge]

West Ham used to have a shop at Lakeside Thurrock. No idea if it`s still there but it seemed to be doing fairly good business. Maybe Cribbs is an option for us?

[ChippenhamRed]

1 hour ago, NeilS said:

Most shopping is done online? No it's not quite yet, besides what about the impromptu purchases? I am sure people still do that, passing a shop and just pop in and buy something they wouldn't have done online. What's all this we are not a big enough team err club? I think, of course we are, some folk are happy for us to stay small and not reaching out, I guess you are one?

Was there really any need to turn a   balanced discussion into an attack on another poster?

Just because some of us question the economics of a city centre shop doesn't mean we lack ambition for our club.

[Silvio Dante]

To be fair, I don't think it was an attack on the poster and similarly, I'm sure Monkeh meant no offence. 

I don't disagree that we are not a big enough club for what we would want from a shop to be viable and profitable. It's either a tiny unit in the centre which looks tinpot or a larger unit in the sticks which won't get the footfall. I think the point NeilS is making is that is it worthwhile making that speculation to get a decent unit, attract more fans and become a bigger team?

Ultimately, it would cost money. It may break even or turn a profit but only if the team are doing well! Nobody will see a sparkly shop and us bottom of the table but come and watch because they like the shop. This is again, why it becomes potentially viable at a higher level but not now and if it was to be done, it's a marketing piece and not a profit unit per se.

Aside - if I recall, Rovers kingswood shop was sold last year. I remember seeing the marketing but think the rent was way less than the examples given and what they were asking to buy wasn't huge contextually. Gets what you pays for...

[Leveller]

2 hours ago, NeilS said:

So we have gone from a City shop to a ticket bucket shop that sells a bit of City clobber

Something like that is probably the only thing that would work. You need ongoing general sales of some sort to attract people in for the impulse sales. Now, a Bristol Sport emporium, with a cafe, a specialist sport bookshop, sports kit and equipment, and a ticket desk for all sorts of events in the city including sports ..... Is this Bristol Ticket thing on the market?