| The club shop 21:30 - Jul 17 with 12102 views | oldmeadoniansR |
Hello all. Thought I would just post an E-mail sent by a very good friend to the club. Sounds like there is work to be done.
Hi Andy (and Tony if you ever read any of your retail feedback)
I was really shocked last week when I went to visit the club shop (after living away from the Bush for 6 years) to purchase some bits for my young children.
If you don't mind some feedback from someone who genuinely cares about the Rangers and have been going to Lotus Road since the age of 6. my late Dad (who incidentally represented Hammersmith penguin and GB in water polo at 3 Olympic games) was from Nottingham Dale and was watching our team before WW2 started. Me and my friends spent any money we had (which weren't much!) Following the team home and away from our schooldays long before Shepherds Bush was a refuge for yuppies and soulless people who couldn't give a toss about the area and the history of our club.
   Anyway I'll cut to the chase....
1) on my visit to the club shop I was surprised to find .... mannequins naked despite the club revealing it's new season kit two weeks prior.
2) all the merchandise featuring the old (god awful, ill concieved Ecclestone Briatore era) badge was packed in boxes but still on the shop floor apparently to go to local charities (why aren't we shouting about this?)
3)a pitiful amount of saleable goods with the new improved club badge
4)one staff member wearing nothing to indicate she was anything to do with QPR who had 'Neighbours' on the in-store TV (why not the 1967 league cup final or Stan lighting up the football league with his magic?)
5) Cars and vans Parked outside so it was really hard to even access the main entrance which for some reason you need to ring a bell to be allowed into (you ain't Prada guys). If you believe that being so close to White City Estate means you need to take such ridiculous precautions then your community programs need some serious attention.
6) Just a suggestion but if the staff you employed loved QPR and had the sense of humour/irony/sarcasm that comes with it you'd sell loads more gear!
I've worked in Retail as a Regional manager, consultant and coach/trainer and what I witnessed down South Africa Road was nothing short of disgraceful. If we expect our players to sweat blood for the hoops like many of their predecessors; your Waddocks, Gerry Francis, Holloways, Alan Macdonalds Mark Birchams, Tony Inghams and Arthur Jeffersons (Arthur was my Dad's hero as a boy and his son is a good friend of our family) then why not have a backroom (from tealady up) who will do the same?
   After visiting the club shop my friend and I went to enquire about membership. My friend is a very polite guy and waited for what seemed like ages before being acknowledged. I encouraged one of the 'team members' to come forward and my polite friend asked how much a membership was. Your team member just said...."33 pounds" and was going to leave it there. I asked "so mate, what do we get for 33 quid?" A reasonable question I thought. Your boy never had a clue and just stumbled through something that wasn't even close to a sales pitch. I actually said to my friend "come on let's try Craven Cottage" and there was no reaction! If the players on the pitch showed such lack of passion they would lose every game and rightly be booed off the park.
For what it's worth I think Tony Fernandes is the best chairman we've ever had but I can't imagine visiting Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea and having such a poor experience. If we are setting up our season on the field as unprofessionally as we are our retail arm then get ready for league 1 football next season.
   Apologies for the harsh tone but I really feel we are missing a trick here. When JFK set a goal of reaching the moon, every one at NASA from the astronauts to the geezer that cleaned the Khazi had that same goal. When Queens Park Rangers do the same I'll have some hope that my kids and their kids will have a team to follow and be proud of.
Kind Regards and good luck for the season to come. |  | | |  |
| The club shop on 13:09 - Jul 18 with 3152 views | FredManRave |
| The club shop on 13:01 - Jul 18 by NW10Hoop |
Probably amounts to a couple of weeks of keeping Sandro on the books. Of all the crap we've spent wads of cash on, a small clubshop in Westfield could be sensible. Certainly raises the profile of the club - there's not much sign of QPR when you get out of any of the tubes |
For those of you that refuse to read Sandro related threads; Let's make the best of two bad situations then by sacking the Neighbours watching Club Shop employee thus saving a day of Sandros annual wage and put him to work in the club shop, obviously with no heavy lifting duties involved.
A win win and Tony can come out of this decision fully clothed plus we'll have a happy DannyR (Brexit withstanding). |  |
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| The club shop on 13:15 - Jul 18 with 3132 views | bob566 |
| The club shop on 13:01 - Jul 18 by NW10Hoop |
Probably amounts to a couple of weeks of keeping Sandro on the books. Of all the crap we've spent wads of cash on, a small clubshop in Westfield could be sensible. Certainly raises the profile of the club - there's not much sign of QPR when you get out of any of the tubes |
that's all well and good saying its two weeks of sandros wages the fact is the budget is set aside for players wages. This would have to come from somewhere else.
First thing to do is check does the current club shop even turn a profit after overheads. If not then whats the point of opening one elsewhere. | | | |
| The club shop on 13:32 - Jul 18 with 3108 views | TacticalR |
This is clearly a sign of post-Brexit turmoil. Is it perhaps time for the manager of the club shop to step down? If not I fear a coup in the not too distant future. |  |
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| The club shop on 13:46 - Jul 18 with 3083 views | CamberleyR |
| The club shop on 13:32 - Jul 18 by TacticalR |
This is clearly a sign of post-Brexit turmoil. Is it perhaps time for the manager of the club shop to step down? If not I fear a coup in the not too distant future. |
I think the club shop manager has definitely lost the fitting room. It's clear the staff are not selling for him. |  |
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| The club shop on 13:52 - Jul 18 with 3067 views | LongsufferingR |
| The club shop on 13:32 - Jul 18 by TacticalR |
This is clearly a sign of post-Brexit turmoil. Is it perhaps time for the manager of the club shop to step down? If not I fear a coup in the not too distant future. |
Depends really. Is he a lone wolf manager who's just taking his frustrations out on society using the club shop as a convenient cover, or is he actually an operative of a murky overseas based organisation hell bent on destroying our way of selling replica tops? |  | | |
| The club shop on 13:52 - Jul 18 with 3064 views | NW10Hoop |
| The club shop on 13:09 - Jul 18 by FredManRave |
For those of you that refuse to read Sandro related threads; Let's make the best of two bad situations then by sacking the Neighbours watching Club Shop employee thus saving a day of Sandros annual wage and put him to work in the club shop, obviously with no heavy lifting duties involved.
A win win and Tony can come out of this decision fully clothed plus we'll have a happy DannyR (Brexit withstanding). |
I'm not seriously suggesting that it's either a club shop or a Sandro, just making the point that while we can still afford to pay someone with his record, then the club might be able to accept a small loss in getting another club shop off the ground.
It's off season, it's totally fair enough that the club shop is in a transitional phase, particularly as the club stated a while back that there was a shipping issue with the new kits.
The point I was (lightheartedly) tried to make was that an extra shop in Westfield isn't a crazy idea, Match day revenue would probably go up. It could even be totally instead of the club shop at the ground - space that could be used for something else? |  | | |
| The club shop on 13:54 - Jul 18 with 3060 views | LongsufferingR |
| The club shop on 13:52 - Jul 18 by NW10Hoop |
I'm not seriously suggesting that it's either a club shop or a Sandro, just making the point that while we can still afford to pay someone with his record, then the club might be able to accept a small loss in getting another club shop off the ground.
It's off season, it's totally fair enough that the club shop is in a transitional phase, particularly as the club stated a while back that there was a shipping issue with the new kits.
The point I was (lightheartedly) tried to make was that an extra shop in Westfield isn't a crazy idea, Match day revenue would probably go up. It could even be totally instead of the club shop at the ground - space that could be used for something else? |
You're right. That space could be used for delivery of Sandro's wages every week. | | | |
| The club shop on 13:55 - Jul 18 with 3058 views | PlanetHonneywood |
Club shop's on fire, A block is terrified.
Club shop's on fire, A block is terrified. |  |
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| The club shop on 14:08 - Jul 18 with 3008 views | PinnerPaul |
| The club shop on 11:47 - Jul 18 by Northernr |
New badge, new kit, new sponsor, new kit manufacturer... Basically means all the old stock is worthless to them and has to be moved out, and all the new stock has to be manufactured and delivered. If it still looks like that in August then fair enough but in the middle of a summer of total change around I don't think it's an issue, unless we think magical elves are just going to come and do a 100% stock change during the night!
And honestly, if the poor girl who has to man the shop during a summer weekday for the benefit of a dozen customers wants to watch neighbours during the down time I'd let her! Obviously different on match day. |
Plus - crime rate and parking in the area, nothing to do with the club.
Box office staff - they don't have dedicated counter staff - as others have said, in mid July that would be pretty wasteful - so the office staff can only get to the counter once they have finished dealing with email/call they are on.
Not knowing the benefits of membership is pretty poor though if that is true.
When displaying R's credentials, always good to spell players' names correctly though - just goes to show your friend, we're all humans who make mistakes!  | | | |
| The club shop on 14:31 - Jul 18 with 2974 views | MedwayR |
I've just done a quick bit of google research and the standard annual rent for an average sized retail unit when Westfield opened in 2008 was £300k pa, given rent increases lets say we'd now be looking at £400k pa.
I think we can all appreciate the benefits it would bring but in my opinion a shop in Westfield wouldn't be an option for us, even if we shared it with Dryworld (& Watford?) I doubt it would be worthwhile, particularly when we already have a club shop despite it's limitations. |  |
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| The club shop on 14:34 - Jul 18 with 2969 views | daveB |
| The club shop on 13:01 - Jul 18 by NW10Hoop |
Probably amounts to a couple of weeks of keeping Sandro on the books. Of all the crap we've spent wads of cash on, a small clubshop in Westfield could be sensible. Certainly raises the profile of the club - there's not much sign of QPR when you get out of any of the tubes |
i think both Sandro's wages and a shop in Westfield would end up being a waste of money. Not sure it raises our profile at all really, you could buy QPR shirts in Sports Direct and the Nike shop at Westfield last season |  | | |
| The club shop on 14:38 - Jul 18 with 2959 views | NW10Hoop |
| The club shop on 14:31 - Jul 18 by MedwayR |
I've just done a quick bit of google research and the standard annual rent for an average sized retail unit when Westfield opened in 2008 was £300k pa, given rent increases lets say we'd now be looking at £400k pa.
I think we can all appreciate the benefits it would bring but in my opinion a shop in Westfield wouldn't be an option for us, even if we shared it with Dryworld (& Watford?) I doubt it would be worthwhile, particularly when we already have a club shop despite it's limitations. |
Bloody hell. didn't think it would be that expensive.
That's Caulker and Sandro for a month! (joke). | | | |
| The club shop on 14:45 - Jul 18 with 2951 views | DesertBoot |
That's so pricey. Good research and no wonder we don't have an outlet. |  |
| Wish I could be like David Watts |
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| The club shop on 14:53 - Jul 18 with 2943 views | FredManRave |
| The club shop on 14:31 - Jul 18 by MedwayR |
I've just done a quick bit of google research and the standard annual rent for an average sized retail unit when Westfield opened in 2008 was £300k pa, given rent increases lets say we'd now be looking at £400k pa.
I think we can all appreciate the benefits it would bring but in my opinion a shop in Westfield wouldn't be an option for us, even if we shared it with Dryworld (& Watford?) I doubt it would be worthwhile, particularly when we already have a club shop despite it's limitations. |
Ok so bearing in mind the costs and FFP how about;
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| The club shop on 15:10 - Jul 18 with 2902 views | enfieldargh |
I've always found the female box office staff to be fantastic, especially Emma if shes still there.
A couple of the blokes that work there are a bit bluaghghgh(cant think of the word that describes unmotivated on low pay) but you just need to push them to get an extra word out of them. |  |
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| The club shop on 15:18 - Jul 18 with 2901 views | CamberleyR |
When you look at how much we've wasted on wages recently (£78m in 2012/13, £75m in 13/14 and a similar amount again in 14/15 I shouldn't wonder), £400K per annum to rent a shop in Westfield seems small beer. | |
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| The club shop on 16:36 - Jul 18 with 2833 views | PlanetHonneywood |
| The club shop on 15:18 - Jul 18 by CamberleyR |
When you look at how much we've wasted on wages recently (£78m in 2012/13, £75m in 13/14 and a similar amount again in 14/15 I shouldn't wonder), £400K per annum to rent a shop in Westfield seems small beer. |
That's just the rent and we'd probably need to sign a lease for a few years.
Throw in wages, utilities and contribution to cleaning/security etc. it just won't make any cash. Yes your right when you say it's small beer compared to our more profligate days of yore, but that's why we currently having to work within strict budgets.
The motion is denied. | |
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| The club shop on 19:08 - Jul 18 with 2761 views | Dorse |
| The club shop on 11:50 - Jul 18 by johncharles |
I'm surprised by the OP. Every time I've been to shop the staff all seem to QPR fans and the TV always has some Rangers footage running. |
Maybe it was the classic 90s episode where Mrs Mangle challenges Gary Penrise at darts whilst Stefan Dennis sings his hit song 'Don't It Make You Feel Good'. The crowd scene at Lassiter's bar includes a young Ian Holloway delivering the line 'Have you got dry roasted nuts?' to which Joe Mangle replies 'Nah, you great gallah, it's just the way my dungarees hang'. |  |
| 'What do we want? We don't know! When do we want it? Now!' |
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| The club shop on 23:15 - Jul 18 with 2660 views | PunteR |
From a marketing point of view , of which I know zilch about, I do think the club haven't used the area very well to promote the club and sell merchandise and tickets. I cant see why the club cant do more especially on match days... |  |
| Occasional providers of half decent House music. |
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| The club shop on 23:23 - Jul 18 with 2646 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| The club shop on 16:36 - Jul 18 by PlanetHonneywood |
That's just the rent and we'd probably need to sign a lease for a few years.
Throw in wages, utilities and contribution to cleaning/security etc. it just won't make any cash. Yes your right when you say it's small beer compared to our more profligate days of yore, but that's why we currently having to work within strict budgets.
The motion is denied. |
Ten year lease with a five year break, apparently.
I can see that it's great idea on the face of it, but I agree with you that with our current budget we need to look at options that will make us money. |  |
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| The club shop on 12:43 - Jul 19 with 2507 views | YorkRanger |
| The club shop on 23:23 - Jul 18 by BrianMcCarthy |
Ten year lease with a five year break, apparently.
I can see that it's great idea on the face of it, but I agree with you that with our current budget we need to look at options that will make us money. |
The problem with Westfield is it is not a captive market, even though its on the doorstep.
At at time when the club is looking to cut its cloth, opening a new retail outlet looks pretty unwise, notwithstanding the inadequacy of the current shop.
Those who really want QPR merchandise will go to the club or buy on line |  | | |
| The club shop on 13:28 - Jul 19 with 2457 views | Konk |
Well, your club shop can’t be any worse than ours, which carries the worse stock in the world. Complete and utter tat and weirdly overpriced. Literally unbuyable if you have an ounce of self-respect or taste.
I wouldn’t go down the Westfield route — if you want to engage with people in your catchment area, I think it’s time to go down the “Knocker” path. Send a load of dodgy-looking blokes out doing door-to-door knocking round Ruislip and Pinner, “Hello Love, is your husband home? [unzips sports bag to pull out QPR shirt/scarf/mug/key fob] — I bet your husband would love that? What about your Dad? Son? Dog? Oh, come on, you’re killing me here [sad face]…don’t make me beg darling, you must need a Rangers pencil case?”.
I reckon that would be blinding. No overheads and you’re getting out engaging with people. |  |
| Fulham FC: It's the taking part that counts |
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| The club shop on 13:33 - Jul 30 with 2269 views | TacticalR |
Trouble at till
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