Hawks Fans Stocking Up On New Gear Ahead Of Stanley Cup Final
(CBS) -- Hours after the Blackhawks secured their spot in the Stanley Cup Final, fans were ready to buy some new gear to support their team. WBBM's Nancy Harty caught up with some at a South Loop sporting goods store.
The Dick's Sporting Goods in the South Loop opened three hours early to accommodate eager fans says the company's marketing manager Jeremiah Zimmer.
"We had a line of about a dozen people or so waiting to get in, "he said. "It's crummy weather outside so it is really nice to see that kind of fan support."
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Rocco Lamantia stocked up on gear featuring the western conference champs, buying six shirts and three hats for his family, including a 12-year-old nephew he bet that he would find it first.
Lamantia said the idea of buying the shirts was the only thing to get him out of bed mere hours after the team won.
"I'm sure not going to get up on a Sunday on a rainy morning at 7:30," he said. "I was up at 6 hoping and calling everywhere to see who was open and they were the earliest, they said they opened at 7."
Many Hawks fans, like Kate Lojeski, were buying more despite already have plenty of shirts and hats from the team's two previous trips to the Stanley Cup Final in the last six years.
"I will always make room," she said. "Older clothes could just go away that aren't Blackhawks. Blackhawks stay in my closet."
Zimmer says Dick's is expecting more shipments of about six different versions of the conference champ shirts and two kinds of the hats throughout the day.
One shop you won't find Western Conference Championship gear: Gunzos Sports Center.
"If they win it all, that lasts a lot longer," said manager Timothy Little
Little says it makes more business sense to sell cup championship items, if it happens, because demand spans the calendar year. The conference win on the other hand declines as soon as the final gets underway Wednesday.
The store says with every playoff series win, they see a 20 to 30 percent increase in foot traffic.
