The Morgan Quarter sits in the heart of Cardiff’s city centre and is full of different businesses from independent clothing outlets to family-owned hobby shops. For over three years, Cowshed has told the stories of the people and the businessowners that occupy the stores within the Victorian walls of Royal Arcade and Morgan Arcade.
In that time, we have met many wonderful businessowners, and when we sat down to talk to Eleri, we quickly realised that we had another special story to share.
Eleri Williams isn’t your average teenager. She is an 18-year-old businesswoman from Aberdare and the owner of Ballers CP, a vintage football shirt store situated in 7 Royal Arcade, Cardiff.
Before she turned 16, Eleri had created Ballers CP and begun selling her father’s unwanted Manchester United shirts through the online auction site eBay. In a short space of time, she built a successful online business, selling shirts from £20 to £200, and by the time she turned 18 she had made well over £30,000.
She quickly realised that her parents’ spare room wouldn’t be able to handle her growing stock, so she set up her first store in the Morgan Quarter.
This is where we come in. After we sat down with Eleri, our PR team realised that her human-interest success story, coupled with the ongoing Fifa World Cup, would capture the imagination of national and international media. We knew it would go big – and it did.
Through our public relations and media software, we were able to identify media outlets and journalists with a key interest in Eleri’s story, and through this work we successfully achieved national and international press for our client the Morgan Quarter.
Eleri was invited down to Central Square to chat to the BBC Radio Wales breakfast team, she featured on BBC News’ Business Today programme, and on American news channel CBS News to chat about her business.
Since we told Eleri’s story, Ballers CP’s Instagram has doubled its followers and she has featured in over 23 online news sites (including, BBC News, Newyddion S4C, and Wales Online) and 3 major broadcast channels (including, CBS News and BBC Business Today).
Eleri has now secured a place at Cardiff University to study Law, and she will use her profits from Ballers CP to fund her university tuition fees. Thank you for letting us tell your story, Eleri.
