Chelsea FC have opened a pop-up store in Covent Garden in a bid to capitalise on Christmas shopping and festive tourist footfall.
The shop on Monmouth Street stocks club merchandise, including replica kits, Christmas jumpers and gifts and will be open seven days a week until 21 December.
It makes Chelsea the third football club with a retail outlet in central London, after Premier League rivals Liverpool and European champions Paris Saint-Germain.
“There is nowhere quite like Covent Garden during the Christmas season, which makes it the perfect home for Chelsea’s festive pop-up,” said the club’s lifestyle director Alexandra Currie.
“We want supporters and shoppers alike to enjoy a little Chelsea magic this season, whether that means the latest kit, a gift for the Blues fan in the family or a piece from our festive collection.”
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SUBSCRIBE HEREIt follows the launch of the club’s festive range, That’s Proper Chels, which includes Christmas jumpers and pyjamas based on popular retro kit designs.
A percentage of sales will go to tackling loneliness in London through partnerships between the Chelsea Foundation and charities including Age UK Kensington & Chelsea, Katherine Low Settlement and Fulham Good Neighbours.
Football clubs in high streets across the world
Paris Saint-Germain led the way in establishing a bricks-and-mortar retail presence in central London when they opened a store on Oxford Street in 2023.
Liverpool followed suit in May this year when they opened a club shop, also on Oxford Street, becoming the first Premier League club to do so.
PSG have club shops in 10 cities around the world, including New York City, Miami, Tokyo and Doha, while Liverpool boast more than 20 outlets from Chester and Dublin to Kuala Lumpur and Cape Town.
Arsenal and Manchester City both have retail presence in New York, with the latter also in Abu Dhabi, home of their ownership.
Real Madrid have three stores in Barcelona – home of their fierce rivals, who have shops in the capital – as well as sites in Dubai, Mexico City and Bogota.