General Club shop to close...

The covered market has been dying since peoples shopping habits changed.
As a "daily" shop it thrived with fruit & veg, bakers, butchers, fish etc.
Now it has become dead on its feet and its days are numbered, could squeeze loads of flats in there.......
 
The covered market has been dying since peoples shopping habits changed.
As a "daily" shop it thrived with fruit & veg, bakers, butchers, fish etc.
Now it has become dead on its feet and its days are numbered, could squeeze loads of flats in there.......

The high rents may have had a large impact as well.
 
The covered market has been dying since peoples shopping habits changed.
As a "daily" shop it thrived with fruit & veg, bakers, butchers, fish etc.
Now it has become dead on its feet and its days are numbered, could squeeze loads of flats in there.......

could be wrong, but I vaguely recall reading that theres some sort of covenant on the Covered Market having to remain a market?

It was built many centuries ago to provide an outlet for street traders of the time ( I think)

that said the Manor ground had a covenant to remain a place for sport to be played or something along those lines, didnt it? , though Ka$$am had it removed relatively easily :(:(:(
 
Owned by the City Council............................


Imagine....could build a ground there................................. :) :)

Turl Street Stand.
High Street End.
Brasenose Lane End.
Cornmarket Street Stand.

Varsity Club as a Supporters Club.......

There is #brandoxford right there.................................

You don`t suppose that was the plan all along do you? Until those meddling kids got involved....... :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
The club has never been able to make a shop economically viable. I guess that there would need to be enough incremental sales from mainly non supporters.
It sounds as if costs are still far too high.
As somebody else suggested with the internet sales growing so much it is hardly a surprise. Getting other retailers to stock oufc product maybe is an option ?

John Lewis in Reading has a plastics fc concession in it, so surely there could be an option with a retailer in Oxford city centre.

Only sports retailer is JD I guess and in other cities they sometimes stock the local clubs kits.
 
John Lewis in Reading has a plastics fc concession in it, so surely there could be an option with a retailer in Oxford city centre.

Only sports retailer is JD I guess and in other cities they sometimes stock the local clubs kits.
have both John Lewis and JD sports ...as well as Sports Direct.... in Oxford... Elmer Cotton near the corner of Broad and Turl street I think has been closed a while now? ...cant think of any sports retailers in the 'shire market towns though
 
I went in July on a rare visit to oxford and the stock was very limited, but more than that, the atmosphere was terrible. Whoever was on customer service looked scared of, and depressed by us coming in and my boy fairly quickly said “can we go dad” rather than “can I please get a full away kit, that looks epic”. We spend a fair chunk at the online shop, so there weren’t any missed sales from us, but it definitely wouldn’t have been pulling in the casual tourist looking for an unusual oxford souvenir.
I would have thought that the best value would be from trying to get a rack of shirts next to the Chelsea/Liverpool/Barca shirts in the mainstream sports shops. At least that might attract a few misguided sales to aunties whose nephews have requested a ManU top but the auntie thinks yellow looks nicer :)
 
Agreed hardly any choice in there
On the rare occasions I popped into town ( been a rarity for a few years now) , and even rarer occasions I went in / through the covered market when the club shop was there, it was always shut!
 
Not another landlord charging OUFC too much rent, do they never learn when they take these things on.
Tbh you may be correct, but there was never any leadership however small the unit was - it never had anyone remotely imho interested in selling the club. Never anything posted on the windows selling our ware's...ie tickets for the next forthcoming matches. Something a colleague of mine hounded them (the club) about for yonks but f*ck all was ever done. And yes I've had 35 yrs of selling-and at times hard sell! Let's hope sometime soon we will pay someone a decent salary to sort this missing part of the jigsaw.

Coyy's.
 
Would anyone notice if the Covered Market went? Surely most pedestrian traffic in Oxford has an epicentre around the Westgate nowadays.

A city centre shop was called for for years from fans and yet it ended up being underused. Use it or lose it, I’m afraid.

I most certainly would! I shop in the Covered Market at least twice a week.
 
The covered market has been dying since peoples shopping habits changed.
As a "daily" shop it thrived with fruit & veg, bakers, butchers, fish etc.
Now it has become dead on its feet and its days are numbered, could squeeze loads of flats in there.......

I’m going to bet against this. Although it will be transformed into something very different. Look at what other markets around the country have had to do.
 
I understood that the closure has nothing to do with a lack of footfall or rent and business rates.
The club “shop” was a sub let accessed via the barber shop.
That arrangement has now ceased as the whole of the premises is required to be let as one.
Also in recent weeks, the landlord (OCC) announced that footfall had dramatically increased and that all outlets were occupied.
I have always thought that the club shop was badly run, poorly marketed, easily missed and often closed.
I bet the club are glad to be out of it.
 
I’m going to bet against this. Although it will be transformed into something very different. Look at what other markets around the country have had to do.
I go to the butchers there! It’s gradually transforming to more leisure businesses but still has good food stalls if you are in town. It’ll be listed so it will remain
 
have both John Lewis and JD sports ...as well as Sports Direct.... in Oxford... Elmer Cotton near the corner of Broad and Turl street I think has been closed a while now? ...cant think of any sports retailers in the 'shire market towns though

The staff from Elmer Cotton have taken it over and are called Bluebloods are are based in the covered market. Top bunch of people and doing well. Check them out!
 
I went in there once it was a waste of space hardly anything in stock. The shop is to small. :mad:
 
Back
Top Bottom