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Giving the independent a voice
How long has the shop been open?
About 20 years, I think. The original shop opened in Kington, then Ludlow and Leominster. There are eight shops altogether, and we also have four Animal franchise shops as well, in Hereford, Shrewsbury, Aberystwyth and Chester. It's quite a 'local' chain.
In terms of product in this store, what's the breadth of product in stock?
We try to do everything, really. There are some sports like cycling and golf where there are specialist shops locally, which can cater for everything a cyclist needs. In terms of golf, clubs have their own shops too.
Apart from that we do all sportswear, football, rugby, swimming, fitness equipment, tennis, squash, badminton, hockey. We deal with numerous companies which lets us cater for most sports, so if someone wanted a lacrosse stick we could probably get hold of it, we'd just have to order it. It's not a question of us holding a lot of stock, it's what we have access to.
Our Hereford store is a running specialist shop. Certain days they do computer-assisted gait analysis for customers, for example. But while running might be the core of the store, they also cater for bowls and keep more high profile boots for rugby, for example, in their store. In here, we don't have the room to do that.
We do pack it in here, it's fair to say.
What else do you stock?
We also supply two of the local schools with uniforms, which is all stored downstairs. It means we can't stock quite as much sports gear, but it is a major source of revenue for the shop.
When the kids go back to school, they need uniform, sports stuff, shinpads, socks, that kind of thing so we can sell to customers alongside the uniforms.
How has business been for you?
In the month I've been here, business has been really good, but that's covered the back to school rush. Usually, I'm the only member of staff here, but while the rush was on I had another pair of hands helping out.
You're using a computerised stock system, is that a big help in a small shop?
It helps with security because you don't want to go downstairs to the stock room to look for three pairs of boots if the shop's full.With the computerised stock system, you can tell what boots are down there and what sizes, which is a huge help. No unnecessary trips.
How is the shop marketed? Do you do individual marketing or is it done by head office?
Most of that is handled by head office, which is fine. We rarely market individually.We have some advertising hoardings at local sports facilities, like Luctonians Rugby Club.
The local schools have to send the kids here to get uniforms, so it's more like relationship marketing than spending money on advertising.
Do you do any sales online?
No.We have a web site but it's for information purposes and for the promotions side of things, as we have our own embroidery facility so we can tailormake club badges and the like, and we supply trophies to customers too.
Do you think online sports retail has affected the traditional sports shop?
In a way, as there's greater choice online. But in another way, you can't always find the right size online a you can't try what you're buying on. If you have to buy something here without trying it on, you can just call back in and it's no hassle, not like packaging something back up, sending it off, waiting for days… Here, it's in and out, if it's in stock. And if it has to be ordered in, it's still quicker in most cases than buying online, as the delivery is only coming one-way and might be coming from another store rather than from the manufacturer or distributor.
Presumably, being in quite small towns Clubsport doesn't have to compete directly with large multiples.
The only store we have that's in direct competition to a multiple is our Hereford branch, but that's why we went for a specialist market with running. If you go into a multiple, you might ask about their running shoes and they'll show you where they are but they won't have the knowledge about the shoes or your running style. So we have a store where a runner can go in and speak to staff who know their stuff about the shoes and the sport, and there's the gait analysis tool too. There's a wider range of specialist shoes too, with Asics, Saucony, New Balance and more that you're unlikely to find in a multiple.
What sets you apart as an independent sports store in a small market town? In a town like Ludlow, you have to add something to the greater community or a shop just won't survive.
The majority of it is in talking to the customer to find out what they want and how we can help them, and to give them some knowledge about the products. Of course there's the printing and embroidery side as well, so you can get all your sports tops done for a club and it's all done locally, it's not being shipped off to China for example.
How involved do you get with local clubs and associations?
Teams we've worked with before, we do discounts where possible. So we might do 15 per cent off the full kit for each club, also we embroider their badge, and we do the set-up of that for free too, for example.
Do you have a lot of sales? I notice at the moment you have a cricket sale on.
That's the first time we've done an end-of-season sale. Normally we box it up and send it to a larger shop to store for us.We thought we'd give it a go and try it with 25 per cent off.
Squash and tennis racquets we generally have a sale on all season, because we sell them a season behind. Our larger stores stock the latest styles, but in here it gives us the opportunity to discount racquets yearround.
