Duke stores cash in on NCAA gear

In her four years on campus, senior Suzie Schenkel has never bought a Duke T-shirt. But after Duke won its fourth NCAA Tournament Championship, she decided the occasion warranted a purchase.

And plenty other Duke fans had the same idea. Students, faculty, alumni and Durham residents swarmed Duke Stores Tuesday looking for NCAA championship apparel.

“I wanted to wait until we won big time,” Schenkel said. “For me, this is a fairy-tale finish to my Duke experience.”

“We are doing what we projected we would do, which is a little more than we did in 2001 [after winning Duke’s third championship],” Craig said. “I expect we’ll make $2 to $2.5 million in revenue for the entire selling period.”

Although purchases from the University Store on West Campus made up the majority of transactions, satellite shops and the Duke Stores’ Web site have contributed substantially to sales, Craig said. The online store sold about 4,500 clothing items and a makeshift shop in Cameron Indoor Stadium sold an additional 2,300 items Tuesday.

Duke Championship merchandise will be available at the East Campus Store, the Terrace Shop, the Medical Center Bookstore and the Duke Team Store in Card Gym until Fall or until sales subside, although Craig expects heavy sales for the next few months. Additional merchandise, such as hats, license plates, jackets and bumper stickers, will arrive in shipments today and throughout the rest of the week, he added. By the end of this week, stores will offer 25 different T-shirt designs to customers.

Despite the large number of sales, operations have run smoothly in the stores, said Jeff Perkins, department coordinator for the Textbook Store. Perkins, who arrived Tuesday at 5:30 a.m. to help stock the store, said management’s planning made the transactions more efficient.

To prepare, the stores brought in 15 temporary workers to keep the shops stocked and clean. The workers were trained last week after Duke advanced to the Final Four, Craig said.

He added that Duke Stores have been preparing for the arrival of NCAA merchandise since mid-January. Duke collaborated with companies like M.J. Soffe and the Cotton Exchange to create all the designs for the products, although nothing was printed or ordered until Duke’s win was certain.

The post-win excitement still kept stores busy, said Bob Walker, general manager of retail and book operations for Duke St ores.

“It has been absolutely crazy,” employee Heather Thompson said. “There have been people outside since a quarter after seven this morning, waiting for shirts. Everybody has been really excited.”

Walker described Tuesday as “Christmas mixed with back-to-school all on the same day,” and said that despite the long lines, people generally seemed to be in good spirits.

Sophomore Stefan Streckfus said the championship was even more important than going to classes, adding that he plans to wear his new T-shirt “every day, forever” to commemorate Duke’s historic win.

“We have had a great build this year—with [the wins over the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill], the ACC, Final Four—that was a big part of the increase in sales,” Craig said. “With the bad economy and unemployment, people are looking for something positive in their lives.”