On the 2nd and 3rd of September 2023, RetrOriginalFootball opened its first Pop-Up Store. We considered it a great success and are immensely grateful for the enthusiasm we received in the Pop-Up store. In this blog, we want to address all the attention we received leading up to and during our Pop-Up Store.
When we received the green light from the Groot Handelsgebouw Rotterdam to open our Pop-Up store in their historic building, we couldn't believe our luck. This building is a historical national monument located in the heart of beautiful Rotterdam. It's a stunning location. After the official announcement of our Pop-Up shop on our own channels, we noticed that we were also getting attention from various larger media outlets. InDeBuurt featured us and wrote an article about the Pop-Up. Additionally, we received a mention from the local media channel UitAgendaRotterdam. Thanks to these local channels, we were even noticed by the major Dutch media company, Het Algemeen Dagblad (AD). While we were still enjoying a festival, a journalist from AD called us, and we gave an interview about our passion for football shirts. In addition to this interview, AD published an article promoting our Pop-Up shop. We were deeply flattered by all the attention we received. More and more national Dutch media outlets found our website and approached us for interviews. We were contacted by Life After Football, a football culture platform co-founded by former professional footballer Regi Blinker, and they also featured our Pop-Up Shop. Even one of the largest men's magazines in the Netherlands, For Him Magazine (FHM), dedicated an article to us.
To be honest, we were overwhelmed and surprised by all the attention we received. But there was more to come. We received permission from Excelsior Rotterdam to create content within their stadium for our page. While we were filming some shots there, we were approached by the assistant coach and former Excelsior player, Thomas Verhaar. Thomas Verhaar, along with Sparta Rotterdam captain Bart Vriends and Social Impact Maker Maarten de Fockert, hosts the popular Cor Potcast. The week before our Pop-Up shop, Verhaar and his podcast colleagues hosted a live podcast in a theater for the first time (we had already bought tickets for this event as loyal listeners). When we met him at the Excelsior Stadium, he decided to purchase a Juventus Jersey of Del Piero from us to wear during his theater show. He was very satisfied and decided to recommend our Pop-Up store in their Podcast. Since we have been fans of this podcast for a long time, we found this exceptionally cool. Additionally, we were approached by the Feyenoord-fan Podcast Geluid van Zuid, released by the Rotterdam regional broadcaster RTV Rijnmond. They asked us to join a podcast about the history of Feyenoord Fanshirts. This marked our Podcast Debut.
The youth channel of RTV Rijnmond, OPEN Rotterdam, filmed a segment during our Pop-Up store. They later published another article about our Pop-Up store. As this article was published without the opening dates, several people visited our store after we had already closed for good.
All in all, our Pop-Up store became a huge success, thanks in part to all the attention we received from the aforementioned channels and platforms. We would like to thank them all for the promotion we received.
Doesn't this make you want more? ...
