Birmingham, United Kingdom (15 August, 2011) – Green Room Retail, the UK’s fastest growing retail design and delivery practice, has been awarded the contract to refresh and develop the retail elements of Wembley National Stadium.
The six-figure brief will see (Birmingham-based) Green Room complete an upgrade of the stadium’s existing retail store and merchandise kiosks, create two new premium Club Wembley boutique stores, and refresh the retail way-finding signage.”
Green Room was awarded the brief after a three-way competitive pitch.
Wembley is the latest in a long line of world-famous visitor attractions and iconic sporting brands – including The London Eye, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warwick Castle, Cadbury World, Nike, Umbro and Manchester City Football Club – to choose Green Room to design and deliver retail concepts.
At 90,000 seats, Wembley is the largest sports and music venue in the UK and one of the most famous stadiums in the world. The stadium’s role in the nation’s sporting calendar will come to the fore once again next year as host venue for the London 2012 Olympics Games football competition.
In addition to the hundreds of thousands attending events annually, the stadium also attracts up to 140,000 visitors each year for the Wembley Tour, where fans get the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of legends to take in the England changing room, the players’ tunnel and the royal box.
Each Tour concludes at the Wembley Store, making it an important commercial opportunity and revenue stream. Green Room’s first task is to refresh the store, improving the external and internal signage and enhancing the store layout and POS to maximize the effectiveness of the space available. Green Room’s concept will see the store rebranded ‘The England Store’, with iconic England football team imagery and branding utilised to convey the drama and emotion of the stadium’s rich heritage and remind visitors that they are in the ‘home of football’. The store itself will be reconfigured to accommodate themed merchandise zones and improve the flow of volume traffic during peak periods.
Additionally, Green Room has been tasked with designing and delivering two premium boutique stores within the 14,000 capacity Club Wembley debenture and corporate hospitality complex. Catering exclusively to these premium visitors for the first time, the boutiques will retail Wembley and England memorabilia in addition to relevant products from premium partner brands. The boutiques will open in early 2012.
Green Room has also been tasked with refreshing the 33 merchandise and souvenir kiosks located throughout the stadium, providing a consistent aesthetic and enhanced signage. The design being rolled out incorporates interchangeable event logos, allowing the kiosks to be economically customised for specific events, improving their utility.
The final element of the agreement will see Green Room deliver a revised signage and way-finding strategy throughout the stadium, ensuring visitors can easily locate the retail stores and the stadium tour, encouraging additional footfall and maximizing their potential.
Richard Ash, founder and chief executive of Green Room comments: “Green Room has a rich heritage in delivering very profitable retail environments for some of the greatest sports brands and most popular visitor attractions in the world. This fantastic brief will see us converge all of this accumulated experience to allow Wembley to realise its full retail potential.
“This is a thrilling win for us – I now know how Bobby Moore must have felt in 1966!”
Mike Pink, head of retail and tours for The Football Association, owners of Wembley Stadium, comments: “Throughout the pitch process, Green Room consistently impressed us with their thought provoking recommendations and commercial savvy. Their experience in working with both global sports brands and sizeable visitor destinations has proved invaluable throughout our discussions, allowing us to develop a strategy that will over the next six months see a full refresh of our existing retail sites and signage and the development of two exciting new boutiques. Combined, the work will make a significant enhancement to the revenue contribution retail provides the business.”
To find out more about GRR’s exceptional retail design solutions, visit http://www.greenroomretail.co.uk/ or telephone 0121 200 2828.
About Green Room Retail:
Opening its doors back in 2001, Green Room Retail (GRR) was born out of MD Richard Ash’s love of retail. Having spent 15 years working with some of the most successful brands in the world, Richard’s vision was simple – to offer clients exceptional creativity and service at a fair price. The company continues to go from strength to strength, with leading brands from around the world trusting Green Room Retail to deliver them unexpected retail solutions. GRR recently extended their Birmingham offices and also, a short while ago, collaborated on BBC 2’s leading retail design programme ‘Mary Queen of Shops’ with Mary Portas.
Contact:
Richard Ash
Green Room Retail
Suite 304
Fort Dunlop
Fort Parkway
Birmingham
B24 9FD
Tel: 0121 200 2828
Email: pr@clickconsult.com
