Pleasure Beach in Blackpool is 130 years old and is best known for its traditional seaside amusement park, wooden roller coasters, the Big One and shows. Its retail operation gets less attention, but the resort treats merchandise as a way to extend the day and carry memories home. Damian Jackson, head of retail, oversees physical stores, e-commerce, ride photography and merchandise development. In the interview, he described a model in which retail is not an exit gift shop but another part of the attraction experience.
Jackson’s account treats merchandise as a design problem before it becomes a commercial one. Every range, he said, must have a reason for existing, a clear customer and an authentic connection to the resort; Pleasure Beach does not simply put a logo on a product. Aviktas, a new attraction, illustrates the point. Its merchandise was built around a complete visual world: a golden snake, emerald colouring, mythology and mystery. Retail was involved early in the attraction’s development rather than added after the ride was complete.
The commercial test came with a limited-edition run of 50 models priced at £250 each, which sold out. Jackson presented this as evidence that guests will invest in premium collectables when a product has authenticity, detail and a strong attraction link. The example supports a narrower claim than general demand: a carefully positioned premium offer can find an audience within Pleasure Beach’s fan base. It does not establish how large that market is or how repeatable the result would be.
One resort, several retail missions
Pleasure Beach serves families on first visits, school groups with limited spending money, teenage friends and couples, international tourists, lifelong fans and serious coaster enthusiasts, often on the same day. Their reasons for buying differ. A family may want a traditional souvenir; an enthusiast may want an accurate collectable tied to a ride; teenagers may respond to confectionery, accessories and trend-led apparel; heritage-minded visitors may value nostalgia, craftsmanship and the stories behind the resort.
The portfolio is organised around customer missions, price points and levels of engagement. It includes impulse items such as confectionery, magnets, keyrings and badges; practical products including bottles, bags and ponchos; fashion-led apparel and accessories; children’s products and plush; and premium or limited-edition pieces for enthusiasts and collectors. Attraction-specific merchandise sits alongside broader branding, licensed ranges, playful products and heritage collections. Jackson’s formulation is that having something for everyone means a carefully edited range in which each product has a purpose, a target customer and an appropriate price, not unlimited choice.
Pleasure Beach combines sales data with observation and guest feedback. Sales reports show what is selling, but Jackson said understanding why requires time in shops, conversations with teams and listening to guests. The team asks whether a product is desirable beyond carrying a logo: whether someone would wear it away from the resort, whether an enthusiast would display it, whether a child would be excited to receive it and whether it would remind a family of their visit.
Heritage, play and licensed brands
Nostalgia carries unusual weight at a 130-year-old resort that has been part of family traditions. Pleasure Beach draws on an archive of attraction imagery, typography, posters, architecture and stories, reinterpreting it through contemporary apparel, homeware and collectables. Jackson said the aim is not to make everything feel old-fashioned but to use authentic history in a fresh and desirable way. Playful assets do a different job: humour, colour, character and unexpected ideas make the range more accessible to children, families and casual visitors. Mr Funshine merchandise is cited as an example that taps nostalgia with a contemporary twist.
Licensed attractions, including Nickelodeon and Aardman properties such as Wallace and Gromit, require partnership between Pleasure Beach, the IP owner and approved suppliers. Pleasure Beach follows brand guidelines while considering how characters are experienced at the park. Jackson described the strongest partnerships as collaborative: the licensor protects the brand, while the resort explains what visitors respond to and how products must work in an attraction environment. To compete with online retailers, Pleasure Beach aims for relevance and exclusivity through exclusive designs, location-specific details and personalisation.
What visitors now expect
Jackson reported growing interest in attraction-specific merchandise, premium apparel, subtle branding, collectables, limited editions and items with a clear story. Guests also want products they can use or wear beyond the visit; a hoodie, cap, bottle or bag must work as an attractive product in its own right. Enthusiasts are particularly interested in accurate details, models, technical artwork and products that recognise an attraction’s history or engineering. Generic souvenirs and heavily branded products without an additional story have become less compelling, although keyrings, magnets, mugs and confectionery remain important. Their design, quality, presentation and relevance still have to evolve.
The operational base
The less glamorous side of retail is central to the model. Jackson identified stock accuracy and product availability as probably the least glamorous and most critical parts of the operation. A strong product cannot generate revenue if it is in a stockroom, has not been reordered, is incorrectly priced or is unavailable where guests expect it. Deliveries, stock movement, replenishment, pricing, signage and daily compliance checks protect the guest experience: clear pricing builds trust, good housekeeping makes products more desirable and effective replenishment prevents missed purchases.
Suppliers are treated as creative and commercial partners rather than simply manufacturers. Pleasure Beach shares the story, ambition and intended customer behind a range so that suppliers understand the goal. Jackson values suppliers who bring ideas, understand the brand, respond constructively to feedback and can translate a concept into a commercially viable product. Reliability in quality, communication, lead times, compliance, pricing and consistency is essential. Over time, mutual understanding allows both sides to be more ambitious and efficient.
Frontline teams are equally important. Retail colleagues provide energy, product knowledge and personality, demonstrating products, explaining the story behind a range and recognising when a guest needs help. At Pleasure Beach, retail can also involve entertainment, from making candy floss and helping a child build a teddy to demonstrating bubbles, presenting photographs or personalising a gift. Jackson encourages teams to think beyond processing transactions and describes them as hosts, storytellers and brand ambassadors. Their feedback can reveal emerging requests before those appear in formal sales reports.
Retail as another chapter of the day
Pleasure Beach tries to make retail feel like another chapter of the day rather than an obligatory stop at the exit. Presentation, location, storytelling, pricing and team confidence all influence whether a guest buys. A clear price architecture lets visitors enter a range at different levels, from a small memento to a premium collectable. Trade-up is encouraged by showing additional value through better materials, greater detail, exclusivity, personalisation or a bundle rather than simply a higher price. Product adjacencies matter: a plush character may lead to an outfit, a ride photograph to a frame or multi-photo offer, and attraction apparel to matching accessories and collectables.
The physical environment and online store extend the same logic. Themed settings, demonstrations, characterful displays, confectionery experiences, personalisation and interactive selling can make shopping entertaining. A thrill-ride shop should feel different from a children’s character store, a heritage collection or a confectionery outlet. When environment, products and team tell the same story, retail becomes part of the attraction experience. E-commerce extends the relationship year-round, letting enthusiasts follow launches and remote customers access selected products; online behaviour can give Pleasure Beach insight into which ranges appeal to collectors.
The wider lesson is that retail can support an attraction’s identity when it is involved early, edited around clear customer needs and backed by operational discipline. Pleasure Beach’s account also sets boundaries. The Aviktas sellout is one premium example, not proof of universal demand, and the interview does not quantify overall retail revenue or isolate merchandise’s effect on visitor spending. The model depends on execution: accurate stock, reliable suppliers, trained staff and a distinctive identity. The ambition is not to imitate museums or fashion brands but to create products guests associate only with Pleasure Beach.