Izuchukwu OkosiAs plans are underway for preparations ahead of the 2023/2024 La Liga season which begins on 11 August, Barcelona on Thursday, 15 June 2023 opened its 12th self-managed store.
The Blaugrana had in recent seasons faced some stringent financial difficulties but has deviced creative means to counter those situations.
They had even engaged 20 financial institutions to help repay their loans.
The store is 100% focused on the club’s merchandising as they continue to expand its retail business through Barça Licensing & Merchandising (BLM).
The store in the Sants-Montjuïc district is the second in the Arenas shopping mall, opened just days after another store was launched at the Poble Espanyol.
The club has made this district a priority given that the team will be playing games at the Olympic Stadium, Montjuïc as of next season while work is being done to redevelop Spotify Camp Nou.
The opening ceremony was attended by Juli Guiu, FC Barcelona vice-president responsible for the Marketing Area, and Enric Masip, from the FC Barcelona president’s office.
It was a doubly special date because this was also the day that the brand new home kit for the 2023/24 season, and the first to be directly inspired by the women’s team.
Naturally, the new shirt is on sale at the exceptional 88 m2 store that occupies a place in the central plaza of the mall.
The other eleven stores that are 100% managed by Barça are the ones at Spotify Camp Nou, Canaletes, Passeig de Gràcia, Sagrada Família, Westfield La Maquinista, Parc Central Tarragona, La Roca Village, El Corte Inglés Maria Cristina and Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona Airport T1 and T2, Arenal in Madrid iand the new one in Poble Espanyol.
Visitors to the Barça Store in Arenas can buy the new 2023/24 kit from today, along with other 100% Barça collections for both adults and children, and even babies can be kitted out in blaugrana.
But as well as playing strips, there are also casual streetwear designs on a Barça theme, all original and offering the utmost comfort.
These include the ‘Barça Cruyff’ and ‘Barça Fest’ capsules that fans will be excited to find.
In July 2018, FC Barcelona regained its merchandising rights which until then had been controlled by FCB-Merchandising, a company 100% owned by Nike.
Since then, Barça has directly assumed management of its retail brand by creating BLM, with the aim of regaining direct control of the brand in order to continue its global expansion.
The strategic plan includes the creation of a network of official sales outlets managed 100% by FC Barcelona, of which the Canaletes store is the flagship establishment and the second largest in terms of surface area, behind the one at Spotify Camp Nou.
Likewise, and taking advantage of the temporary move to the Olympic Stadium while work is being done on Espai Barça, the club has been exploring options in the environs of the stadium, and in line with its strategic commitment to retail, there could be further openings on the way.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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