Fort Lauderdale businesses preparing for massive Florida Panthers parade crowds
FORT LAUDERDALE — Sinbad Sports stocked up on shirts and chains in the hundreds.
"We got in over ten thousand of these came into town we bought like five thousand of these horns," said Sinbad Elhaddad, owner of Sinbad's Sports.
With an expected turnout in the hundreds of thousands at the parade, they had to prepare.
"600 chains came in and over 300 towels," Elhaddad said. "We have to provide for all the fans so hopefully we can sell out as much as we can".
Their inventory may have a shirt suitable for the weather when John Clawson goes to the parade.
"I mean how often you gonna see a championship team," Clawson said.
Getting a seat on the strip to watch the parade will be in high demand, so bars and restaurants are setting minimums. At Rock Bar, a table for two will set you back five hundred dollars.
The more people, the more money you have to put down.
"Six people is one K. That's not a cheap go," said Steve Patton, who was a patron at Rock Bar.
"Absolutely not," said another patron.
"That's way too expensive," said patron Drew Donovan.
Irvin Nunez is a DJ at Rock Bar. He says if you don't reserve a table, you will have an hour and a half limit, so more people get to use the space.
"We want everyone else to get a chance to be able to come in and enjoy themselves," Nunez said.
The place can hold thousands and has some of the widest spaces on the strip. There will be two shows for fans here: The Panthers parade in the front and some flair bartending in the back.