DUNDEE UNITED’S NEW RETAIL AND COMMERCIAL CENTRE

Tannadice Street will see a further new arrival for the start of the season, this time in the shape of Dundee United’s brand new retail and commercial centre. The Club Shop is moving to its new location in Tannadice Street for around the start of next season and the Club is taking the opportunity to create an all inclusive, one stop facility for its supporters. The unused building opposite the entrance to the East Stand is being converted at a six figure cost into a multi purpose commercial centre, which will incorporate the retail, ticketing and administrative functions of the Club. Furthermore, it is now envisaged that the principal reception area will also be located in this centre. The decision to multi function certain activities has required some alterations to the plans thus causing a slight delay to the original timescale. Nevertheless, contractors are now on site and it is hoped that, subject to building work and fitting out being completed on time, the shop should be operational before the end of August. Until then, the lease on the existing shop premises has been extended temporarily. Marketing Director Stephen Thompson said, “This promises to be an exciting and very worthwhile venture for the Club, and our fans. The existing shop premises have served us well, but over the years it has become clear that the demands of our supporters can no longer be fully satisfied from that location. When we conducted our consultation exercise last year, there was an overwhelming demand for the shop to be located at, or near to, Tannadice. There was also a very clear demand for improved, more open, shopping facilities which would allow our supporters to browse the merchandise and also provide changing facilities. We have taken this feedback on board. The level of expenditure involved, not only in respect of the building work but also in terms of over £500k of new stock, demonstrates a very real commitment by the Club to improve our retail and marketing operations and to listening to what our supporters have to say. “In parallel with the planning for the new retail outlet, a new online shop is being developed for the website and it is hoped that this will also be functional in the near future. “It will take a little time to build up stock levels for both the retail and online outlets but once this is achieved, supporters will notice a great improvement. “The process of gradual, but steady, improvement is a deliberate policy and is now evident throughout the Club. We have already seen huge improvements in our communications policies with the introduction of the new website, enewsletter and email systems, and a number of significant improvements have also been implemented in the operations areas. All of this takes time, and money, but with the support of our fans we are confident that the Club is heading in the right direction.”