St James' Park work underway after Newcastle United agree £40m deal

The installation of Newcastle United’s temporary club store is underway with its doors set to officially open on Wednesday, May 29.

Following initial groundworks in April and May, the first of five modular ‘Rapid Retail’ units began to arrive at St. James’ Park on Wednesday afternoon. The temporary store will be situated between the Strawberry Pub and St. James’ Park Metro station, and will begin selling a new range merchandise before the launch of Adidas products – starting with the 2024/25 home kit from Friday, June 7.

It was announced in September last year that Adidas had agreed a multi-year deal - believed to be worth between £30million to £40m per season - to take over from Castore. As well as manufacturer the club's kits, the Adidas agreement will see Newcastle move their retail operations in-house for the first time in over a decade.

The current club store - situated at the Gallowgate End of St James’ Park - will undergo an extensive refurbishment when Castore and the Magpies’ agreement concludes later this month. It is expected to open later this summer where the temporary shop will be removed.

Meanwhile, the Magpies are currently building a new online retail platform - shop.newcastleunited.com – that will also go live on May 29.

Peter Silverstone, Chief Commercial Officer at Newcastle United, said: “We are hugely excited about engaging with supporters directly through our new in-house retail operations.

“We have big plans for our retail business, and the first step on the journey is to launch a new digital retail platform while completely revitalising how we meet supporters’ needs in our physical stores.

“The temporary store at Strawberry Place will enable us to close the existing retail outlet at St. James’ Park and put significant investment into the site. The result will be the launch of a world class retail experience at a flagship stadium store, filled with new kit and merchandise that we anticipate will be hugely popular.

“We are building a passionate local team to drive this new retail operation, helping us to deliver on the huge demand for Newcastle United products through best-in-class service.

“We recognise it will take time to get our service to the perfect levels we strive for, and we thank supporters for their patience as we go through this important transitionary period over the summer months.”