The University of Michigan athletic department is no longer interested in working with The M Den. The school, however, covets the retailer’s name.
According to an email sent by an athletics department official earlier this month to all of the school’s retailers and obtained by MLive, Michigan has plans to designate a different company as the official team store. “It is our intention that Legends (Global Merchandise) will operate under ‘The M Den’ store name,” according to the email.
M Den has fallen on hard times financially. As MLive’s Sam Dodge reported on Wednesday, the company recently consented to pay $288,743 in three separate legal cases after multiple suppliers and malls sued M Den this year for non-payment of services or rent. It was curious timing, since the Michigan football team won the national championship in January, an event that figured to boost M Den’s profits.
M Den has been Michigan’s official merchandise retailer since the early 1990s with the exception of 2009. In Ann Arbor, there are M Den locations on State Street, Main Street, and Briarwood Mall, along with one location each in Detroit and Novi. During Michigan home football games, a pop-up tent appears across the street from Michigan Stadium. M Den sells Michigan-branded clothing, houseware, and memorabilia, among other items.
The email to retailers, sent earlier this month by Michigan’s associate athletic for trademarks, licensing and partnerships, Kristen Ablauf, noted Michigan was “currently in discussions” with Legends. “We fully expect to have an agreement in place shortly, however, we all need to move ahead with placing orders to get product here as quickly as possible.
“Someone from Legends will likely be contacting you to discuss plans, and we appreciate your willingness and efforts to make product available to them.” Ablauf acknowledged that the timeline is “ridiculously tight,” given that the fall semester starts on Aug. 26 and the Michigan football season kicks off five days later.
Legends Global Merchandise has offices all over the world with divisions covering sales and sponsorships, hospitality and operations, and merchandise, among others.
While the ‘M’ in M Den is often depicted as the school’s famous block ‘M,’ it appears the company owned the store’s name, at least initially. Ablauf’s email indicates the school plans to transfer ownership to a new operator.
M Den’s owner, Scott Hirth, did not return MLive’s phone call or text message sent on Wednesday. A spokesperson for Legends responded to an email only to offer no comment. Ablauf did not respond to an email.
“We are hopeful we can all work together to get product here in time and continue to provide our fans with a strong assortment and an excellent customer shopping experience,” Ablauf told retailers.
“We are confident that through our incredible partnerships, we can move in this new direction and build something that exceeds even prior expectations.”
MLive’s Sam Dodge contributed to this story.
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66be22a6c7894efda89bf888240693b5&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mlive.com%2Fwolverines%2F2024%2F08%2Fmichigan-athletics-targeting-company-to-replace-longtime-retailer-m-den.html&c=9262110680747016882&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-08-15 04:41:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.