Union Lack Center City Presence; Seattle Opens Downtown Store
by Chris Savino on Jul 3, 2011 7:00 PM EDT
in Columns
Email
Print
Article republished on businessofsoccer.com
This weekend marked the grand opening of Seattle Sounders' first team store in downtown Seattle. Simply known as "The Pro Shop," the store will feature products from both the Sounders and the Seahawks of the National Football League. In what appears to be a rare partnership among teams of different sports, the two appear have found the perfect formula for a successful retail store.
With seasons that briefly overlap in the late Summer and early Fall, a retail space is occupied by teams who together compete year-round. In addition to having the largest attendance in Major League Soccer, the Sounders have also lead the league in merchandise sales in recent years.
Philadelphia supporters however have less of a presence in their hometown, nonetheless downtown. While the team calls Chester, Pennsylvania home, the nearest official retail store in located in Berwyn - more than twenty-seven miles away from PPL Park. The Union's official retail partner, Angelo's Soccer Corner, also has locations in Harrisburg, Huntingdon Valley and Lancaster.
Match days at PPL Park present lines that wrap around the perimeter of the store and often out the door, sometimes just to enter. Likewise, lines for purchasing merchandise extend past the time of kick-off and well in to the first-half.
The team provides few additional 'pop-up' retail spaces throughout the stadium. With limited quantities of merchandise that varies per 'pop-up' location, finding a specific product is not always that simple. Equally difficult are the payment options as many booths turn away customers who are unable to produce cash, which is the only accepted form of payment.
Second retail space at PPL Park appears to be much needed on the opposite part of the stadium to deal with the overwhelming demand and long lines that cause supporters to miss several minutes of the match while waiting in line and returning the their seats.
It is Walnut Street and nearby blocks where most customers tend to find themselves when shopping In Center City Philadelphia. Why not follow in the footsteps of Seattle sports teams? As one of, if not the best sports cities in the United States, it is difficult see why there is not already a team-sponsored sports shop - nonetheless multiple team endorsed store - in Philadelphia.
For additional pictures of the grand opening of 'The Pro Shop' in downtown Seattle, click here.
8 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Tghis is bewildering
27 miles away? That’s insane. While I understand the area of Chester may not be suitable for a store the fact that the ‘pop up’ retail spaces at the stadium are often times understocked and don’t accept anything but cash is just bad business. Seriously who, that isn’t an archaic relic, doesn’t except credit or debit in today’s world?
I also think I have read on here about the lack of public transportation to the stadium. Why is that? PPL Park is a beautiful venue and our fan base is one of the most passionate and dedicated. You would think making it easier for people to attend games should be a priority and public transportation is a great start. Lets get it together City of Philly and F.O. If you want the program to grow, you have to give it the resources to do so.
"I will never have my best season," Brian Dawkins
Mike Vick is a piece of shit
The lack of public transit is what it is. That’s a drawback to the location but it’s not like there was some plot of land along the Broad Street Line waiting to be developed into a stadium with public money. It’s not like the team isn’t doing it’s best with the available situation — running shuttles from a nearby station on the regional rail lines. Also, some of the pub partners in downtown Philly run buses to games.
What other suggestions do you have for public transit? Calling for an allocation of resources without offering specific ways for that to be implemented seems like a hallow complaint to me.
As this doesn't affect me personally
I never sat down and tried to figure the situation out. I was making reference to similiar complaints I have heard broadcast through Union fans. I don’t know what kind of logistics, budget shortfalls, or anything else that Chester and Philly face. I am just saying it seems like something that should be addressed. With expansion plans it seems to be something that might take a great deal of research. Nothing is sadder then a half empty stadium during games. If the means are provided more people will come and therefore everybody wins. Do I have specifics? Nope, just figured making mention might get somebody with a little more ability to directly influence to look at it.
"I will never have my best season," Brian Dawkins
Mike Vick is a piece of shit
Annoying.
The pro shop at PPL Park doesn’t even have non-gameday hours. So far in my experience the most reliable place to buy Union merch is Dick’s sporting goods. Their locations are also limited, and they still don’t have everything you’d see in the online shop.
Two small things...
One, the Sounders and Seahawks have had a joint retail store ever since the Sounders became a MLS team. Two, the Sounders and Seahawks share many things … including ownership.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter
Yeah, if Jeffrey Lurie owned the Union, we might see the soccer team sharing retail space with the Eagles too. But, well, he doesn’t.
I guess one argument could be to have the Union negotiate with Comcast (who is involved in the team in a number of ways) to have Union apparel at the Wells Fargo Center or any other retail outlets for the Sixers/Flyers (do they have team stores elsewhere? I don’t know).
In terms of Center City, I could imagine a team store might work if it also featured a significant amount of other soccer paraphernalia (Euro and national team items); I’m not sure a standalone Union shop would pay off the rent in an expensive area to run a store like that.
Back in the ‘80s, there were “Spectrum Showcase” stores, mostly because the Flyers (and I guess the Sixers, although Spectacor didn’t own them at the time) wanted there to be ways to purchase tickets other than over the phone and through mail. They were particularly interested in deprecating the latter, since the team is/was/will be so popular that often you would send away for tickets only to get a letter back basically saying “try again”. Anyway, those pretty much went the way of the dodo with the coincidental opening of the CoreStates Center and rise of the Internet.
The Flyers also used Ticketron, which was revolutionary for its time (imagine an ATM machine, but it spit out tickets instead of cash; same types of public locations, though), but their failure to adapt to the Internet did them in, too.
Contributor at The Brotherly Game, SBN's Philadelphia Union blog
Philly Live, KoP
I’d say it’s a virtual guarantee that Ed Snider’s “Philly Live” mall on the spectrum site will included a large store for team swag. Hopefully the Union get in on that along with the Comcast teams.
Despite my hatred for suburbia and malls, I will say that they should have a similar store in King of Prussia. It’s certainly a shopping destination for the overall region, as loathsome as I find it.
In center city, the trick is location. Do they pay the rent for Rittenhouse or Old City, or go with a touristy strip like South Street? Be part of the redevelopment of the gallery?
Flyers, Phillies, Eagles, Union, Phantoms, Wings.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
