The University Retail Team is small yet mighty, consisting of just 3 us! Our official titles are Debra – University Retail Team Leader, Ann – University Retail Administrative Assistant and I’m Georgina, the University Retail Support. We are a cracking little team who are constantly on the go, yet love the roles we have! But what aspect of our jobs do we think is each other’s favourite, and more importantly what are our actual favourites?

                For Ann, I would definitely say she loves going to the Botanic Garden, one of our beautiful retail outlets, and having a clean and a reorganisation of all the stock – she has it looking beautiful and works so hard for it to do so! Unsurprisingly, however, Ann herself says ‘I enjoy looking at figures and doing data analysis to see how people are discovering our shop and see where we need to focus our attention, so more people can enjoy our lovely products! (Ann’s love for spreadsheets is very real!) Just to show I was right she adds, ‘I also really like sorting out displays at the outlets!’ Her favourite product is our Graduation Toffee Bear, followed closely by our University Cloth Bag.

                For Debra, I’d have said she loves meeting our customers, our suppliers and colleges, so when she finally gets to meet the people behind the hundreds of emails she sends out on a daily basis! The boss lady says ‘My fave part of the job is shopping! I buy all of the wonderful stock in all of the outlets and to see us making a profit is very rewarding. It is also a great feeling to drive through Durham and see all of the promotional merchandise being put to good use.’ I couldn’t agree more! Debra’s favourite product is our beautiful wine glass set.

                For me, I love hearing positive comments we get from our lovely customers – makes us feel like we’re doing a good job! As well as this, I adore doing up the many display cabinets we share with colleges and their merchandise throughout the University. It is so satisfying to see them look more inviting and eye-catching. It is also an excuse to show off some of our gorgeous products! It is so hard to choose the best product as we have such variety! However, I think it has to be the Grey American Style Hoody because of how extremely cosy they are! Though our Cityscape range really has my heart! The large tote bag, the mug and the bookmark are just adorable, so much so that my Nan got all 3 for her birthday and she loves them!

                So, I hope this little blog tells you more about us, the faces behind Durham University Merchandise! We love getting out the office and meeting our customers and new students; we hope to see some of you at Summer Congregation, or next academic year where we have exciting new ventures happening. To make sure you don’t miss out keep your eyes on our website and our social medias!

If you like the sound of our favourite products you can find the links to them below:

https://shop.dur.ac.uk/item/ForHer_WineGlassSet_317_0_52_0.html

https://shop.dur.ac.uk/item/Gifts_GraduationToffeeBear_239_0_180_0.html

https://shop.dur.ac.uk/item/UniversityCollection_UniversityClothBag_233_0_104_0.html

https://shop.dur.ac.uk/item/ForHer_AmericanStyleHoody-Grey_317_0_23_0.html

https://shop.dur.ac.uk/item/ForHim_DurhamCityscapebag-Large_316_0_549_0.html