Fresh images reveal St James’ Park work after Newcastle United agree £30m deal

Newcastle United’s club store will undergo an extensive refurbishment as part of Adidas’ return.
Newcastle United’s temporary club shop is beginning to take shape ahead of opening its door next week.

On Saturday teatime, the main store – situated at the Gallowgate End of St James’ Park – closed until later this summer as it undergoes an extensive refurbishment as part of Adidas’s return as the club’s official clothing partners.

To sustain retail sales and jobs, the Magpies have constructed a temporary store across the street between the Strawberry Pub and St James’ Park Metro Station, made up of five modular ‘Rapid Retail’ units.

The units have been decked with Newcastle United logos, and product has already been placed on the shelves ahead of the official opening on Wednesday, May 29.

Newcastle will sell new clothing before the debut of Adidas products, beginning with the 2024-25 home uniform on Friday, June 7. The temporary shop will be removed once the refurb is completed.

Adidas revealed in September of last year that they had reached an agreement to take over from Castore for a multi-year period worth an estimated £30 million per season. In addition to manufacturing the club’s uniforms, the Adidas arrangement will bring Newcastle’s retail operations in-house for the first time in over a decade.

In an interview with Newcastle World earlier this month, Chief Commercial Officer Peter Silverstone stated, “It’s been a long, long project with many discussions and deliberations about the next kit partner.” Decisions were taken and finalised there, and after deciding to rejoin with Adidas, we spent a lot of time figuring out what retail strategy we wanted to use.

“There are many alternative models, and it doesn’t matter how big the club is; various clubs function differently. You can entirely outsource your retail operations to other third parties, even if it is not a kit connection. You can insource some of it and outsource others, run the store yourself while outsourcing your ecommerce, or bring everything in-house. We’ve opted to bring everything in-house, largely to establish a direct interaction with the fan. This allows supporters to buy directly from the club, and clubs to deal directly with fans who want to buy from them.

“If there is a delay, a delivery issue, product feedback, or a need for this or that type of product, the relationship between the club and the individual supporter exists. The variety of things offered in Borussia Dortmund’s primary club store is astounding. Let’s pretend our followers desire Newcastle United garden hoses. So, we can now get that feedback directly from them and try to locate that product. So, being in-house like that is a significant step forward for us. But after you’ve decided that, the next step is figuring out how to create it.