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Closing Down Queens Road Store



Carrot Cruncher

Carrot Cruncher

NHS Slave
Helpful Moderator
Jul 30, 2003
5,052
Southampton, United Kingdom
The only Albion Chuchill Square presence I can remember was a small section in Virgin Megastore. It tied in nicely with the club coming back to Brighton. I'm not sure how long it lasted or the reasons for scrapping, although it was probably due to Virgin going tits up. It certainly seemed to do well when Nick arose was in charge of the commercial/marketing side of things, including stocking stuff that was actually pretty decent (Albion/Skint 'cricket-style' hats for example). It seemed to nosedive when Kevin 'drunk uncle at a wedding' Keehan took over.
 




V

Vegas Seagull

New member
Jul 10, 2009
7,782
Never had a chance : the club only offered ST discounts on match days when everyone was at the Amex. Result massive overcrowding in one & a biased turnover taken away from the town shop giving a misleading position.
Ludicrous
 


K

Keeping The Dream Alive.

Naming Rights
May 28, 2008
3,059
WSU
I'm quite happy to trust Bloom/Barber and co. to make the best financial decision (short term and long term) for the club in this scenario. I would wager they have looked at the figures quite extensively before making the decision they have. Between Bloom and Barber we have two very financially astute chaps, I highly doubt they're making a rash, incorrect decision; and as others have said, I wouldn't be surprised if they have something else up their sleeve in terms of an arrangement with Nike/Adidas.
 


Mew

Mew

New member
Aug 16, 2011
86
Time to diversify. Setup a joint venture with a local restaurant business say, to have an Albion themed eatery + stick the shop on the side.
 








MissGull

MissGull

New member
Apr 1, 2013
1,994
I wonder of they would look at taking one of those small units at Brighton station. Great for impulse buys on the way to the game, but more permanent than the pop up shop.
 


beorhthelm

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,315
MissGull said:
I wonder of they would look at taking one of those small units at Brighton station. Great for impulse buys on the way to the game, but more permanent than the pop up shop.
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i was thinking they must have some sort of town presence, shirley something small near the station can be found? if there are units in the station thats perfect. i can see why the cost of a large central shop isnt justified when they have a substantial relative superstore for free at Falmer. but its just not convienent for all either.
 




bn1&bn3 Albion

bn1&bn3 Albion

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2011
5,625
Portslade
We all know Barber is good at his job, reducing expenditures and increasing income. I'm sure he and Tony Bloom have gone over all the facts and figures and haven't just flipped a coin to decide on the matter.
 




bn1&bn3 Albion

bn1&bn3 Albion

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2011
5,625
Portslade
Unfortunately the club was losing money on the QR store, When the Amex opened the QR store alone had 5 full time members of staff (which included a shop manager specific for QR) and 3 Saturday members of staff. The Amex also had 8 full time members of staff which included a retail manager, stock controller, warehouse supervisor (who later became the QR shop supervisor when the manager 'left'), online sales manager and 4 full-time sales asssitants. Since the Amex opened they are now only left with 5 full-time members of staff....A new retail manager who has only just started, stock controller, shop supervisor (who also runs and organises venues for the mobile shop to visit) and 2 full-time members of staff. During the Christmas period the QR shop was very successful but on a normal shopping day it was lucky if it made £500 and if you take into account the rent, the bills and the staff wages it inevitably had to go. With regards to having our shirts in other sports stores (such as sports direct) it all depends on the exclusivity, if they want to sell our shirts they have to purchase a percentage of this to be able to do so, it may not be in their financial interests to do so as to purchase this means they wouldn't be able to heavily discount the shirt as they would lose more money than gaining so I do not think it is down to the club to promote their shirts to be sold elsewhere and I doubt they would want to do this as this will belittle their already small retail department. It seems a shame to lose the shop but in hindsight I think people will realise this was a good decision in the long run, I just hope now that Nike have come in that as a whole the department improves massively, especially with the marketing side of things and maybe teaching the staff their jobs and a bit of good customer service as this seems to be lacking!!
 






Racek

Racek

Wing man to TFSO top boy.
Jan 3, 2010
1,799
Edinburgh
The Large One said:
While it's vital, I'd say, that there has to be a city centre presence, you are not going to attract new trade just because the shop is in Churchill Square. It's a happy piece of tertiary marketing, but to think of it as being the first port of call in converting non-fans to fans is folly.

There has to be a suitable cost-to-benefit consideration. CS' rents really are silly money.
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I worked at summer school last year in Brighton and a dozen of them spent over 100 quid in the Queens Rd shop. Summerschools are massive and they loved getting something from the local team.
 


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