Stoke City shop to close in another hammer blow for Hanley’s Potteries Centre
The shop is shutting next year for ‘commercial reasons’
Stoke City have announced that their shop inside Hanley’s Potteries Centre is to close next year. The club confirmed the store will cease trading for ‘commercial reasons’ in March 2024.
Fans had been able to buy merchandise at the site since 2006. The branch at the bet365 Stadium is unaffected by the move.
The news comes as another major hammer blow to the shopping centre which has seen the departure of a number of big names in recent years, including flagship stores Debenhams and Next, as well as Superdry, The Candle Shop, Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Peacocks, Poundland and the Body Shop among others.
The centre also axed late-night Thursday shopping last month in another depressing sign of the times.
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Announcing the closure decision, Stoke City’s chief operating officer, Simon King, said: “The vast majority of our retail trade already takes place at the bet365 Stadium and online, and it makes commercial sense to put our complete focus on those outlets moving forward, albeit with flexibility for temporary pop-up ventures where there is a coherent case to do so in future.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused to those who prefer to shop for their Stoke City merchandise within the city centre store, and hope that the combination of the stadium store and retail website will ensure that nobody needs to be excluded.”
Stoke City said further information and details of sales and promotions will be announced nearer to the time of the closure.
The Potteries Centre has been approached for a statement.
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