'Really exciting': Newcastle CCO Peter Silverstone hopes club can replicate Dortmund's retail business

Newcastle United are about to take their retail business back into their own hands after that side of the club was outsourced for years.

Castore have been running Newcastle's retail business since they became the kit supplier in 2021, but now that partnership is ending at the end of this season and Adidas will be the new kit supplier, Newcastle have made the decision to bring all of their retail operations back in-house.

The thinking behind it is so that the club and fans have a more direct relationship and any problems can be dealt with by the club, similarly, any feedback goes directly to the club too.

The St James' Park club shop underneath the Gallowgate stand is due to be closed at the end of the month to undergo a huge refit. Meanwhile, a temporary structure is being put in place outside of the current shop to house the retail store during that time.

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Newcastle will try to emulate Borussia Dortmund

It was revealed yesterday that this would begin on 29th May which will also be the day the club launches their new e-commerce store.

Chief Commercial Officer, Peter Silverstone spoke to The Northern Echo about the new retail plans and said the club looked to Borussia Dortmund for Inspiration.

“It’s getting there. It’s been a long, long project if I think back to a lot of discussions and deliberations about the next kit partner. Decisions were made there and finalised, and then from finalisation of the decision to reunite with Adidas, we then had a lot of time working out what model we wanted to operate retail.

"There’s lots of different models, and it doesn’t matter about size of club – different clubs operate differently. You can outsource your retail completely to different third parties, even without it being a kit relationship. You can insource some of it and outsource others, you can run the store yourself and run your ecommerce via someone else, or you can bring it all in-house.

"We’ve decided to bring it all in-house, primarily to be able to build a relationship directly with the fan. This way, the fan can buy directly from the club, and the club can deal with directly with fans who want to buy from the club. If, or when, there is a delay, or delivery issue, or product feedback, or a desire to have this type of product or that type of product, the relationship between the club and the individual supporter is there.

"If you look at the main club store at Borussia Dortmund, it’s incredible the amount of different products that are available. Let’s say our fans want Newcastle United garden hoses. Well, we can get that feedback directly from them now, and then try to find that product.

"So, being in-house like that is real step change for us. But then once you decide that, it’s about how you build it. The units that have gone in outside St James’ Park are the first physical manifestations of the store, but there’s also been an awful lot of work done on our website. That’s all behind screens, but there’s an awful lot of work been happening there.

"It’s good to see the temporary retail store there now, but I’m already thinking about the next step, which is the full store, and that’s due to be finalised this week. Building work starts soon on that, and kits are beginning to come into the country ahead of the launch of the Adidas relationship in June. Then we’re also now thinking about the launch of the away kit, nailing down when that’s going to be, and the launch of the third kit too. It’s all happening, and it’s really exciting."

The huge retail business will directly help with FFP

Exciting times are ahead for Newcastle, and obviously, the more exciting merchandise the club stocks and ultimately sells, the better that is for us in terms of Financial Fair Play. So every shirt, mug ... garden hose? you buy will help to increase what we can spend on players.

We're expecting that the new Adidas kits will sell in record numbers, even if we are also expecting them to be on the pricey side.

It's not long now to wait to see the official kits in all their glory after the leaks have been doing the rounds for a while now.