Curious absence at Sheffield Wednesday Megastore as takeover nears end
The winds of change would appear to be sweeping through Sheffield Wednesday as a takeover by US consortium Arise edges closer.
Sheffield Wednesday’s Megastore has reopened after it was closed on Wednesday for a ‘stocktake’ exercise - though a large percentage of its items have curiously not been returned to the shelves, The Star understands.
The club announced on Tuesday that the Penistone Road store would not be opening, with eagle-eyed supporters later noticing that many items from kit and leisurewear provider Macron were suddenly made unavailable to buy from the club website despite what appeared to be an ongoing 25 per cent off sale, advertised on the club website. The absent items included 2025/26 replica kit, which remains unavailable to buy online.
Now, the Megastore has reopened as normal on Thursday morning - without 2025/26 replica kit items on the shelves and with mannequins removed or redressed. The finite reasons for the decision have not yet been confirmed to The Star. Italian brand Macron have supplied Wednesday with its kit and further clothing and leisurewear lines since 2021 and were believed to have a number of years left to run on their agreement.
As previously reported, however, the nature of an exit from administration would effectively render all existing contracts void, which allowed the club’s new owners the option of renegotiating or cancelling their Macron deal. It is understood that the previous agreement was based around a substantial up-front sponsorship payment made to the club by the sportswear brand, but that the terms of the deal from that point were heavily in favour of Macron.
That position left Wednesday with a small percentage of takings from the sale of replica shirts in particular and informed the high retail price stomached by supporters. To further colour the picture, findings from a creditor’s report obtained by The Star in early March showed Wednesday had a £1.3m debt outstanding to Macron - who are among the club’s unsecured creditors.
Prospective new co-owner David Storch has alluded to having taken meetings around the future of the Owls’ kit operation as part of feverish preparation for their takeover of the club. As reported by The Star on Thursday morning, sources with inside knowledge of proceedings have suggested completion of the deal is ‘very close’ and that the expectation is it will complete on Friday.