Retailers Extend Hours To Sell Steelers Super Bowl XLIII Gear

Many Pittsburgh Retailers Opened At 6:00am Monday To Sell Gear

After keeping "three of the region's biggest retailers open into the wee hours" Sunday, Steelers fans yesterday "continued to stream into stores looking" for Super Bowl XLIII merchandise, according to Kim Leonard of the Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW. Dick's Sporting Goods CMO Jeff Hennion said the Pittsburgh-area stores "all had huge crowds and stayed open until the merchandise sold out, as late as 1 or 2 in the morning." The stores then re-opened at 6:00am ET yesterday "after deliveries of more merchandise." Hennion: "Steelers fans are a force. We fully expect they'll continue to turn out." Leonard notes eight Macy's stores in the Pittsburgh region "opened late Sunday for a few hours." Macy's PR Manager Heather Hannan said that customers "lined up for the locker room T-shirts and hats." J.C. Penney District Manager Robyn Faith said the official Super Bowl championship hat the team wore immediately after the game "became the item everyone wanted." J.C. Penney has 12 stores in the region and "each sold a supply of 360 hats Sunday night, and more yesterday" (Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 2/3). In Pittsburgh, Bill Toland reports retailers across the Pittsburgh region said that sales were "meeting or exceeding expectations." Some retailers "were having a difficult time keeping merchandise on the shelves," and the "primary customer complaint yesterday seemed to be that the 'locker room' hats ... were blue and green," the colors of the Seahawks, who the Steelers defeated in Super Bowl XL. But Toland notes that "didn't stop people from buying them" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 2/3).

RISING STAR: Although Steelers LB James Harrison was not named Super Bowl MVP despite his record-setting 100-yard interception return for a touchdown, his agent, Bill Parise, said Harrison had "a lot of deals set up prior to the Super Bowl." Parise: "He was coming off a Pro Bowl year, he just won Defensive Player of the Year, so last night didn't monumentally change the plan." But CNBC.com's Darren Rovell noted Harrison's performance in the game "will certainly give things that Harrison is lending his name to a nice boost." Parise said that Harrison "has a deal with PLB Sports to make a signature line of cereal and peanut butter." Parise said that the company is "working on Harrison's 'Crunch' cereal boxes now and they'll hit the market in the next couple weeks," while the peanut butter "will debut in the summer before training camp." Harrison's touchdown "will also help him sell his book" that is being co-authored by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer Bill Moushey. Parise noted that he and Harrison have had "initial conversations about copywriting things related" to the interception (CNBC.com, 2/2).

CHARITY STRIPE: Arizona-based athletic apparel company Just Sports co-Founder Kelly Roberts said that the company pre-ordered 288 Cardinals Super Bowl XLIII Champions T-shirts from Reebok, but because the team lost, licensing agreements "forbid Roberts from ever selling the shirts" in the U.S. In Phoenix, Erin Zlomek reports Roberts instead is "giving them to charity." Non-profit organization One Life at a Time "will distribute the clothes to needy schoolchildren in Honduras and Nicaragua" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 2/3).