To achieve the level of operational excellence that is expected of Manchester United’s Megastore, a decision was taken to redesign and refit the storage solution in the gift and souvenirs stockroom.  LINPAC Storage Systems was selected to maximise the storage of the limited space and turn around the project quickly.  The new stockroom has improved the efficiency of product storage and replenishment of the shopfloor.

Spread over 17,000 sq ft, the Megastore is the UK’s biggest and most famous shop devoted to football.  It sells huge volumes of product, over a million units of merchandise last year, and holds around 1500 different product lines. 

The store is always busy, but on match days the 34 tills only stop ringing when the match kicks off and the shop closes for the game.   Then the 80 people who work in the store have the duration of the match to replenish the shopfloor and tidy up ready to open for just one hour after the final whistle has blown.  Up to 18,000 units of merchandise are sold on a match day so it is essential that the shop’s two stockrooms are highly organised and capable of operating at maximum capacity.

Paul Speakman is the manager of the store and he was responsible for awarding the storage contract to LINPAC, he comments, “As space is a premium in the store the stockrooms have limited capacity.  We did have some racking in the gifts and souvenirs stockroom but it didn’t hold sufficient product, so lots of boxes ended up on the floor.  The shelving LINPAC has installed is much more substantial so it will support the weight of heavy items and cope with the sheer volumes of product.

“The new shelving is adaptable too as the product range is very diverse – we sell everything from duvets and cookie jars to caps, scarves and books.  It’s also made us better organised, our staff can locate products easily and we have a dedicated work station for pricing and tagging stock.  As an added bonus, the stockroom is also easier to manage during stock take.”

Manufactured at LINPAC’s Milton Keynes facility, Longspan shelving is an adjustable, modular system which can be used for a broad range of storage applications.  At Old Trafford, the Longspan shelving is configured to provide five levels of cost effective storage which squeezes the maximum capacity out of the available space yet allows easy access for storage and retrieval.