Football shirt collector 'building a community'

Shaun Owen said he enjoys meeting his customers and chatting about football

A man who turned his passion for retro football shirts into a business says he feels he is building a community of like-minded people.

Shaun Owen set up a shop selling the second-hand shirts at The Parade shopping centre in Shrewsbury six months ago.

He recently moved into a bigger unit in the centre after outgrowing his first one and said: "I'm making friends as we go."

Mr Owen said he eventually planned to sell his shirts online but wanted a "bricks-and-mortar" store first because it was "a more human experience".

He now sees the same faces drop in regularly and added: "I'm happy just chatting about football if you want to come in and just chat about football."

Mr Owen admitted he had doubts at first, though.

"You're never too sure when you start in any kind of business, but particularly something like this, because you're thinking, is it just me that likes these things?"

Over the last six months he has made connections with like-minded collectors across the UK and in Europe too.

He has set up a WhatsApp group to chat about their shared passion and said: "I'm building a community. It's really cool."