With LSU gearing up for the Jan. 9 BCS championship game and the holidays upon us, area retailers say demand for Tigers merchandise is translating into brisk business.
Jared Loftus, CEO of Tiger District, says the online apparel retailer is having “a record sales month, even better than when we went through this four years ago with the brick-and-mortar store.”
Loftus says he expects sales to slow beginning today “because of people’s concerns with getting their packages in time for Christmas.” However, he adds, “I expect it to pick back up on Christmas Day—stores are closed and people will go online that afternoon—then plateau until New Year’s Day. After that, it should increase greatly up until the game.” Loftus singled out the Honey Badger shirt as a favorite, but says all BCS merchandise is moving.
Michael Lester, owner of Nawlins Sports, says his Mall of Louisiana store has seen a rise on LSU sales, “but not as great as it was in past championship years.” He says “anything BCS or Honey Badger” is selling strong. The store, like other retailers, had to comb its inventory when LSU issued a cease-and-desist order on Honey Badger merchandise that mentioned or alluded to cornerback Tyrann Mathieu or his number, Lester says. When he receives an approved Honey Badger item, “it blows out the door,” he says.
Eric Hedrick of Bengals and Bandits, which replaced Loftus’ former brick-and-mortar Tiger District store near LSU’s North Gates, says Christmas ornaments and other holiday-themed LSU products have taken off, along with everything else.
“We have an increase in both traffic and revenue,” he says. “The holidays are much better than last year, and obviously, there’s an increase because of the BCS.” Hedrick says the game has generated such interest that “we’re adding a week to the year, so to speak.”
LSU Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs Herb Vincent says hard figures on university profits will not be available until the end of first quarter 2012. However, in his experience, “when you win a national championship, it brings up to $1 million extra. That’s what we’ve seen. Whether we win or lose affects revenue, because if we win, we’ll have a national championship campaign.”
Vincent says LSUShop.net, the university’s official online athletic store, posted its highest-grossing day since the 2007 championship earlier this month after a site designer mistakenly posted Alabama gear on the home page.
“The publicity led to a sales boom for us,” Vincent says.
