Story added: 5th December 2023

On the Stall City's new home

On Friday 1^st December, On the Stall City opened their new shop in the Forum for the first time, after moving away from their original market stall in October.

Originally opening in 2019, On the Stall City was set up by Jacob Bowles and his parents Andy and Sharon, who wanted to raise money and give back to the Community Sports Foundation.

Jacob Bowles, who is on the autistic spectrum, was keen to give back the charity who had supported him from a young age, and with the help of his family, set up the market stall, with the majority of the original items on sale coming straight out of Jacob’s personal Norwich City FC collection. All profits made were donated straight to the Foundation charity, with over £8000 being raised in the first year alone. The popularity of the stall continued to grow, and during lockdown, the On the Stall City team created an online store, to ensure the fundraising continued even during the difficult Covid times.

The popularity of the market-based stall continued to rocket, with donations arriving from the club shop, ex-staff and players and the kind donations from members of the public. Whilst this was fantastic news both for On the Stall City and for the Foundation, it meant that the small property allocated at Norwich Market was now insufficient space to contain all available memorabilia and that a bigger stall was needed to exhibit all the donated items at one time.

In the autumn of 2023, On the Stall City announced that it would be closing the shutters on its market stall for the last time and that they had acquired a permanent residence in the Forum, an area which had a ready-made space perfect for displaying a much larger variety of items than that at the market.

With help from a team of fantastic volunteers, both from the Foundation and the wider community, On the Stall City spent the week prior to December 1^st preparing their shop for opening day. Grid walls and mannequins were erected and students from the Norwich University of Arts created a graphic print for the front doors of the store.

The 1^st of December saw hundreds of people visit the new store on its opening day, with plenty of items sold and customers over the moon with On the Stall City’s new HQ.

“The space at the Forum is fantastic – it feels like another club shop!”, said one opening day visitor, “There’s a lot more shirts to choose from than there was at the old market stall and the team have done an amazing job to make the shop look as good as it does!”

Another avid On the Stall City fan was also keen to share their compliments on the new facilities, “The new shop is amazing, it’s a complete upgrade from the market stall with lots more space. I hope they continue to do well!”

The first day at the Forum definitely showed positive signs for On the Stall City, with the opening date co-aligning perfectly with the start of peoples Christmas shopping. The fantastic voluntary work of the Bowles family has seen thousands of pounds raised for the Foundation since 2019 and their new location should only increase the popularity and recognition of the once-was-market-stall heading into 2024.