Popular retro football shirt store NI Clasico is to close its physical doors in Newtownards as it moves to an online store and potentially, events-based selling.
Bangor man Ryan Gilmore spoke to Belfast Live just over two years ago about his love for all things football shirts and he said it just reflected how people felt about shopping following the pandemic.
He had since moved the store from Smithfield to Newtownards with the aim of attracting greater footfall on a busy town street.
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"I don't know if it's in relation to Covid, where people have got more comfortable shopping online, but it certainly seems to have changed," he said.
"After the initial hype of moving into Ards, the first four or five months say, you noticed that customers who were coming into the shop were now shopping online.
"Which is great as they're staying with you as a customer, which is ultimately what you want, but when you're paying for bricks and mortar too you start to wonder where the bonus is in paying for that.
"I'm quite lucky in that I have customers as far as Canada and New Zealand and everywhere in between, so in that respect I'm covered for online."
He said he had recently secured new employment and that was also partly in his thinking in looking at how the business could best operate in future.
"I'm sad to close the shop, it's a bit of a shock to the system as it's been all I've known for a while but I've started new work elsewhere and I'm more aware my time's not my own and I have other responsibilities now," he said.
"It's great and I'm enjoying it but it's just needing to change how it works and I'm going to enjoy the Saturdays up until the final one on July 29th, chatting to the customers and that.
"It's a shame as I know the local Ards Chamber of Commerce have done so much great work in making the town attractive for business too."
The shop will open every Saturday from 10.30am-5.30pm up until that final Saturday in July.
He said he had fond memories of operating in Newtownards and that people's connection with certain shirts never failed too surprise him.
"People assume buying shirts off local people that they'll be local shirts but it doesn't always go that way," he said.
"For instance there's a young lad who comes in with his friends and he referees under-15s football and he swapped an AZ Alkmaar shirt, and it was match-worn 1982 home shirt," he laughs.
"It had been passed down through one or two family members through the years and he swapped for something that would fit him."
He said he still enjoys the thrill of finding out quirky differences with how jerseys are produced around the world.
"If I get shirts from as far as Argentina for example, I could get like a Manchester United shirt from 92/93 but in South America they were made with long sleeves and slightly altered collars, so you get shirts that you would never get in the UK," he revealed.
"I've got a Colin Clark match-worn NI shirt from when they played Greece in a friendly in 1998 I believe and he scored two.
"And the story with that was I missed it on an auction, a guy in Italy got it.
"Fast forward two years and I stumbled across it on an Italian collectors page and I got chatting to him and managed to buy it off him.
"So with these shirts, there's a story behind all of them, if they're 20, 30, 40 years old they might have done two or three laps of the planet, so they really do travel."
The plan for the future is to focus on the thriving online side of the business and he was also inspired by a recent work excursion to explore further new opportunities.
"I recently went to an event in Dublin called Kit Con Eire and it kind of opened our eyes to making the shop mobile and looking to go to events and bring the shop to people," he said.
"A lot of people don't use social media for example or just simply miss your advertising so the online will stay strong and we'll look at potentially bringing the shop on the road.
"I know a few people who do it in different countries and they've said it's really rewarding and a great way of getting new customers too."
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