Kop legend John Aldridge was in Chester this morning to officially open the Reds' brand new club store in the city.
The store, on Eastgate Street next to the Chester Grosvenor Hotel, opened for business at 9am after the ribbon was cut by Aldridge and George Davies - the man behind Next, George at ASDA and Per Una and who now looks after all the club's merchandising operations.
The store is Liverpool's third official outlet along with the ones at Anfield and Williamson Square in the city centre and Davies is confident the new premises in Chester will prove to be a sure-fire winner with the fans.
He said: "Chester is an amazing shopping area and I've been looking for a site to open this store for more than a year.
"The evidence that we have from our statistics has told us that Liverpool have amazing support in this Chester/North Wales area and that is why we are confident this is the right place to open a new outlet."
Crosby born Davies, a lifelong Liverpool fan, was brought on board to oversee the club's merchandsing strategies seven years ago and he remains determined to take the club forward and help expand their world famous brand.
He added: "My vision is to cater for the fans. A lot of clubs don't give their retail operations a lot of thought. Liverpool fans have their lives affected by their club and that is why I think it's important to give them a wide range of choice in our shops and not just look to sell them a strip.
"Anyone who comes into our stores will see that we have a huge range of merchandise for men, women and kids."
As far as former striker Aldridge is concerned, he's just delighted to see the Reds continuing their bid to maximise off-field profits as they strive to keep pace with their Premiership rivals.
He said: "It's so important we keep on the tails of the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United.
"The history of Liverpool FC speaks for itself but we've still got to go out there and improve.
"We've opened this new shop in Chester and of course we also had great news this week about the new stadium. Hopefully in a few years time we'll be playing in a brand new stadium and seeing the benefits of the extra money that will bring in.
"If Man United are earning £1 million a game more than us every time they play at home then that's about £20 million we're down on them every season. That could be one quality player - or one player who could help us win the league."
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drill...60929-1303.htm
