Manchester City have opened the biggest shop in their 146-year history right outside the Etihad Stadium, a three-floor flagship store covering 21,000 sq ft.
According to the Manchester Evening News, the new PUMA store sits inside Medlock Square, the £300m entertainment district on the Etihad Campus that is also home to restaurants, bars and The Medlock hotel.
It opened on Wednesday evening with a VIP screening of the 3-2 win at RB Leipzig, and the celebrations have carried on into the rest of the week.
What is inside the new Man City store?
The store carries a bigger range than City have offered before: kits, training wear and lifestyle collections, plus exclusive merchandise and memorabilia, some of it previously only sold at the old Stadium Shop.
There is a personal touch too. Shirt personalisation printers and “Make It Yours” stations let fans create their own patches on t-shirts and hoodies, and the shop also stocks items from other City Football Group clubs, including Palermo and Girona.
City Football Group’s director of retail explained the thinking. “We wanted to create an amazing new store that gives fans and visitors more to discover when they come to the Etihad Campus. The three-floor Flagship store is the biggest we’ve had to date, and compared to our previous stores, entering this store should give fans a real ‘wow’ moment,” she said.
“There are more screens, better lighting, improved access between floors and a wider range of products. It’s a bigger, better home for City merchandise, allowing us to offer an improved shopping environment for everyone.”
Opening week at the Etihad Campus
City have planned a busy first week. Joe Hart and Steph Houghton met fans in the store on Thursday, along with mascots Moonchester and Moonbeam, and there was a limited-edition merchandise drop and prizes to be won on the first full day.
This weekend brings interactive games, face painting, balloon art and the chance to see the club’s trophies up close.
Where is the new City store?
The City Store is at Medlock Square, Etihad Campus, 212 Alan Turing Way, Manchester, M11 3DS.
A museum in the same building next month
The store is only the first part. The new Manchester City Museum Experience opens in the same building next month, spread across ten spaces covering 1,700 square metres, with a PUMA Arena for fans to test their skills, a 360-degree immersive cinema and a first temporary exhibition on Pep Guardiola. We covered the museum plans and the Guardiola exhibition earlier this week.
“We’re proud to make the store a central part of this next chapter for the Campus, and we can’t wait for the Museum Experience to open in December, in the same building as the store, giving fans a truly connected experience when they spend time with us,” the director of retail added.
Is the Etihad finally becoming a seven-day destination?
That looks like the plan, and it makes sense. A hotel, bars, a flagship store and a museum under one roof give supporters, and the tourists City are clearly chasing, a reason to come on a Tuesday afternoon as well as a Saturday.
The test will be whether it feels like a proper home for City fans or just a very big shop. A trophy display, Joe Hart meeting fans and a Guardiola exhibition next month are a decent start.
