World Cup soccer lets shops mix business with pleasure
Local entrepreneurs customize offerings to customers’ loyalties
Edmonton soccer fanatics who happen to run local shops are mixing business with pleasure during the World Cup.
Stores that specialize in ethnic foods have stocked up on soccer merchandise to sell during the monthlong spectacle taking place in Brazil.
Selection may vary, depending on the owner’s leanings.
At Ben’s Meats, a butchery and food store favoured by the city’s Dutch community, don’t expect to find a soccer jersey unless it’s the bla zi ng ora nge of the Netherlands.
“We carry a lot of Dutch imports and we just don’t have a lot of demand for other teams,” said owner Dave van Leeuwen, who ordered $10,000 worth of jerseys, scarves, flags, key chains and other merchandise two months ago.
With the World Cup just getting started, consumers have snapped up more than half his stock.
If the Dutch team does well, he expects sales to ramp up like they did last time when the side made it to the final.
“During the World Cup four years ago, it seemed like every time the Dutch won a game my store emptied out of soccer stuff.”
Van Leeuwen, whose grandparents and parents came from Holland, says it’s more about meeting customer demand and showing support for his favourite team than boosting the store’s bottom line.
“I’m a little biased. I’m a Dutch-Canadian. I’m just proud.”
K and K Foodliner is another specialty retailer getting into the World Cup spirit.
“We’ve got a 50-inch TV behind the deli counter so when people are waiting in line to get served, they’re watching the game,” said store manager Kevin Krause.
Despite cheering for Germany, he says his European deli and imports store doesn’t play favourites; it stocks memorabilia for many of the global teams mostly as a convenience to shoppers.
However, the store’s major customer bases do get reflected in jersey and souvenir sales.
“We’re selling a lot of German and Polish stuff,” Krause said.
It’s not just apparel that sells during World Cup. Rings of ham-garlic sausage, garlic dry ribs and chicken wings are hot items for game-day party trays.
“Anything that people love is good for business,” Krause said.
The World Cup happens to coincide with the Italian Centre Shop’s 55th anniversary and owner Teresa Spinelli is planning a big party.
Saturday’s game between Italy and England will be shown on a giant screen in Giovanni Caboto Park near the chain’s innercity store during birthday celebrations.
The company’s stores selling merchandise like jerseys, caps and flags — “all countries because we’re very multicultural,” said Spinelli, an Italy booster.
Its cafés are also showing the games. “One of my managers just said to me, ‘We sold a lot of beer yesterday,’” Spinelli said. “Of course our sales do go up.”
Even though the World Cup takes place thousands of kilometres from Edmonton, the global super-tournament has a huge economic impact locally from ethnic specialty stores to sports bars to sporting goods stores.
FGL Sports, which operates Sport Chek, said its stores carry more than five times as much soccer apparel during World Cup compared to a normal year.
“(The World Cup) is four times right now in terms of what we see in volume from what we get out of Stanley Cup playoffs in Canada,” said FGL’s vice-president of purchasing for corporate.