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Welcome to theduckshop.net,
our online store that is supported by our retail shop in Durham, North
Carolina. Our
shop, The Duck Shop is located on 9th Street just off of the East Campus
of Duke University.
Ninth Street bills
itself as an "alternative shopping district", and, true to its
billing, Ninth Street is full of independently-owned businesses that pride
themselves on being slightly edgy.
We are a retailer
of officially licensed merchandise all bearing the logos of Duke University
and have been proudly serving the Duke community since 1989.
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Our retail store originally opened in the fall of 1989 and
was named The Duke Shop. After a couple of months in business and after
the store signage was installed the original owners received a letter from
the legal offices at Duke asking them to cease and desist with using The
Duke shop as the store name. In order to avoid a legal battle and the costs
of that with the University they decided they would have to rename the business.
While trying to come up with the perfect name they went to the Duke student
paper and advertised a contest offering free merchandise for the student
that came up with the best name suggestion. After many entries, most using
names including Blue Devils which they were trying to avoid using, they
came across the suggestion by one student to name the store, The Duck Shop.
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thought was that it could be a temporary name at least since the names were
so similar, and when looking quickly at the sign it would be possible to
not notice the change. So after "dropping the E and adding a C",
the new signage was ordered and the new business name, The Duck shop was
in place. It turned out to not be a temporary change at all and in fact
became a topic of discussion with most store shoppers and people just passing
by the store. When the business changed ownership in 1999 we considered a name change
then but by that time almost ten graduating classes at Duke and thousands
of loyal customers were familiar with the store being known as The Duck
Shop so it stayed the same. |
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We launched
a website using the domain name theduckshop.com in the late nineties and
started selling our Duke officially licensed apparel and gifts online.
After a few years the name dukeshop.com became available and after seeing
that there were dozens of competing companies using Duke or Blue Devils
in their domain name, we made the switch to dukeshop.com. It wasn't long
before a very similar letter to the one the original owners received in
1989 was delivered to the shop. Once again the legal office at Duke wanted
a cease and desist of using the name Duke. The domain name had to be changed
and at that point theduckshop.com had already been taken. After years
of using a name we were never pleased with and for various other reasons
we took the website offline.
We are now pleased
and excited to be starting again now with a brand new website that we
plan to continue to grow over the years to come. Theduckshop.net is your
#1 source for the best selection of Duke apparel and gifts at the best
prices that you will find anywhere. Ninety nine percent of the merchandise
we sell features the logos of Duke University. One hundred percent of
these Duke products are officially licensed through Duke University and
the Collegiate Licensing Company. The sales of our merchandise helps to
support the royalty program that benefits the University directly. We
pay a royalty to all of our licensed suppliers for every single item we
purchase. These licensed suppliers then pay those royalties to the licensing
company that administers the program and then they pay a percentage of
that income to Duke University. You can enjoy the satisfaction that every
Duke product you purchase from us is officially licensed and each purchase
is working to support the program at Duke University.
We hope you will enjoy your shopping experience with us
and our motto has always been one of satisfaction guaranteed. If you have
suggestions for us or are looking for a product that you don't find on
our site please call us at 919-416-3348. Our friendly and knowledgeable
staff will be ready and happy to assist you. If you are ever in Durham,
NC please come by to see our complete selection of Duke merchandise or
just stop in to say hello.
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