Memorabilia shop customers double overnight after Queen’s death
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The manager of a souvenir shop near Buckingham Palace has said the number of customers buying memorabilia doubled overnight following the Queen’s death.
Footfall has soared, with mourners flocking to the area to leave tributes and pay their respects to the monarch, who died on Thursday.
Ismial Ibrahim, manager at Cool Britannia – a shop just yards from the palace gates, described suppliers working overtime and scores of people coming through the shop each day.
The 27-year-old said: “Since that evening, we have had a huge flow of people. The footfall has gone really high and since then people have started asking about anything to do with the Queen.”
The shop has also extended its hours to continue serving customers.
He added: “Until midnight there were people flowing to the shop asking for anything they can buy with a picture of the Queen on.”
Mr Ibrahim said the shop only had around 50 customers a day following the end of the school holidays, but that figure has doubled since Thursday.
He said demand for memorabilia meant suppliers were working extra hours to print memorial T-shirts and sweatshirts, which had to be picked up to get them to the shop fast enough.
“They were working overnight to get them done,” he said.
Despite the surge in customers, Mr Ibrahim described a more modest increase in revenue – amounting to estimates of between £200 and £500 more per day.
He said: “Revenue-wise it’s not like a lot more money is coming in because we’re not selling regular stuff that we used to sell, like London buses, photo frames, or London T-shirts.”
The official Buckingham Palace shop has closed following the death of the Queen.
