Football season is the most anticipated time of year in south Louisiana—not only for the diehard fans and devoted tailgaters, but also for the businesses that feed their obsessions.
As Business Report details in a feature from the current issue, sports fan shops in Baton Rouge have been gearing up for months in preparation for the fall. As the first game kicks off, the shops are already in full swing, with true football followers stocking up early on new team clothing, purple-and-gold equipment for LSU tailgates and Jaguar gear for Southern games.
“In our business, you sit around and pray for August,” says Chris Prescott, manager of the family-owned Co-op Bookstore near LSU.
Sales are best for Prescott’s shop during football season—starting in August up until December. Although the Co-op originally opened as a bookstore in 1933, over time it has evolved into more of a fan shop that sells LSU merchandise along with books and school supplies.
“Business is really good, especially during home games,” Prescott says. “It depends on how the team’s doing. If they’re winning, it’s great.”
Katy Prescott, gifts and clothing buyer at the Co-op, says that in the fall, clothes and tailgate equipment—tents, tables and foldout chairs—are best sellers. Each year the Co-op tries to bring in new LSU items, like their new purple-and-gold LSU sneakers that are destined to be popular with Tiger fans this year.
The shop also recently debuted personalized footballs for newborns. Parents can have their baby’s name, birth date and measurements printed on the LSU-themed footballs at the Co-op. Tonya Stewart, general merchandise manager at the Southern University Bookstore, says Jaguar students and fans come pouring through their doors when school starts and football season kicks off.
Game day merchandise has increased over the years, Stewart says. Stadium seat cushions, foldout chairs, blankets, pennants and Jaguar apparel line the walls and stock the shelves all throughout the store. And like most sport shops, sales go up during home game weekends.
“Homecoming is a really big seller,” Stewart says.
Because the Southern band draws as much of a crowd as the football team, the bookstore is adding band items this year. T-shirts touting its popular nickname, “The Human Jukebox,” are available and other items are in the works.
Read the full feature. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
