Special Gifts Section

Licensed Apparel (From page 28)

Rapids. “The memory is important, but not just from a memento point of view. The Grand Rapids area is a very proud area—they like to show off their [Griffin] pride. People come in to get the latest and greatest apparel and souvenirs.”

Game equipment replicas sell well in the souvenir category. “Some of our best licensed souvenirs are our pucks and our keychains,” Berg said. “Our pucks are probably our most popular souvenir, as they are an essential part to the game of hockey. We offer a large assortment of different styles, and they are often purchased and used by fans to get player autographs.”

Luciano said the Iron Pigs’ bestselling souvenirs are mini wooden baseball bats and baseballs printed with the team’s various logos. “After those top two, I would say the plush animals representing our different mascots, and all the little tchotchkes like magnets, shot glasses—the small items,” he said.

Hannawalt said their pucks sell well, particularly with collectors. She added, “Lapel pins do pretty well for us. Also some of the non-collector things but things that are a little more useful, like bottle openers, keychains—things you can use year-round.”

Besides pucks, Shumar said they sell a lot of cowbells as a nod to their Midwestern roots. “Fans have fun with our different logoed cow bells. Sometimes we’ll have them for theme nights. They’ll be at a higher price point, so fans can pick and choose. We’ll have three or four varieties available,” she explained.

Retailers utilize different merchandising techniques to spotlight their higher price point items.

“During the games, we have a merchandise stand set up at one of the highest trafficked areas in the building whose sole purpose is to sell our high-end replica jerseys. We use body fills and hang them on slot wall to make sure they are visible even through a crowd,” Berg said.

Shumar said she does her best to make sure she has a nice selection of merchandise at every price point. “The jerseys are a good billboard for us,” she said. “We always have them displayed prominently.”

Luciano said, “We work with our vendors to give us fixtures when possible. If it’s a high-priced item like a jersey, we put it on one of our best fixtures. We make sure it looks great and stands out. It’s all about dynamic merchandising at that point.”

Hannawalt said she and her team don’t do much targeted advertising or special merchandising for the higher priced items. “For us, the premium items would be something like an authentic jersey—something exactly like what the players wear on the ice. They’re one of the more expensive items we have in the store. We’ll display them closer to the office, hang them higher up. They’re not just something a customer can pick from the rack. But the thing with the more expensive items is we get more inquiries from collectors, so they’ll come to us rather than our having to market them. They’re for the die-hards. They come to us to ask about them,” she explained.

Apparel trends extend to the world of sports. Luciano said right now they are seeing a strong interest in “5950 fitted hats, New Era fitted caps. I’m seeing more bright colors in the tees and hoodies—pinks, blues, other brighter colors. Gold is selling very well,” he explained.

Creative merchandising in general is key for driving apparel and souvenir sales. There is so much going on during a game, it is important to add merchandise to the mix, but do it strategically and purposefully. “From food vendors, TV’s in the concourse, other patrons walking by, and especially the game going on the ice, it is important to make sure that your product can catch attention through all of that,” Berg advised.

Shumar said merchandising is one of her favorite parts of the job. “I love doing displays. We don’t have the biggest store, but we do displays in our windows. I think the store can set the tone if we’re doing a theme night. You