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

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’ return as the club’s official kit partners.

To maintain merchandise sales and protect jobs, the Magpies have built a temporary store - made up on five modular ‘Rapid Retail’ unit - across the road next to the Strawberry Pub and St James’ Park Metro Station.

The units have been decorated in Newcastle United signage and stock has already been put on shelves ahead of the official opening on Wednesday, May 29.

Newcastle will begin selling a new range of merchandise before the launch of Adidas products - starting with the 2024-25 home kit from Friday, June 7 - before the removing the temporary shop once the big refurb is completed.

It was announced in September last year that Adidas had agreed a multi-year deal - believed to be worth £30million 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.

Speaking to NewcastleWorld earlier this month, Newcastle Chief Commercial Officer Peter Silverstone said: “It’s been a long, long project if I think back to a lot of discussions and deliberations about the next kit partner. Decisions were made there and finalised, and then from finalisation of the decision to reunite with Adidas, we then had a lot of time working out what model we wanted to operate retail.

“There’s lots of different models, and it doesn’t matter about size of club – different clubs operate differently. You can outsource your retail completely to different third parties, even without it being a kit relationship. You can insource some of it and outsource others, you can run the store yourself and run your ecommerce via someone else, or you can bring it all in-house. We’ve decided to bring it all in-house, primarily to be able to build a relationship directly with the fan. This way, the fan can buy directly from the club, and the club can deal with directly with fans who want to buy from the club.

“If, or when, there is a delay, or delivery issue, or product feedback, or a desire to have this type of product or that type of product, the relationship between the club and the individual supporter is there. If you look at the main club store at Borussia Dortmund, it’s incredible the amount of different products that are available. Let’s say our fans want Newcastle United garden hoses. Well, we can get that feedback directly from them now, and then try to find that product. So, being in-house like that is real step change for us. But then once you decide that, it’s about how you build it.”