USGA Senior Dir of Licensing & U.S. Open Merchandising Mary Lopuszynski said that she "expects to sell between 600,000 and 700,000 individual items to an estimated 250,000 shoppers over the full 11-day run" of the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, according to C.R. Roberts of the Tacoma NEWS TRIBUNE. Lopuszynski said that she "began researching Northwest fashion predilections two years ago, visiting the area to see what people wore." Her results showed that the locals "like to wear our loyalty to our sports teams" -- the Seahawks, Univ. of Washington and Washington State -- so fans will "be seeing lime green, purple, crimson" at the U.S. Open merchandise pavilion. Lopuszynski's research also showed that locals "like bright colors," hence "all the fluorescent orange, the torrid tangerine, the electric blue" among the Open merchandise. She said, "The Pacific Northwest folks like a lot of bright colors. Usually, we don’t do a purple golf towel." The store will "be open to the unticketed public through Sunday" from 10:00am-6:00pm PT daily. A satellite store "elsewhere on the course, and another at South Lake Union Park in King County, will operate during the championship." Lopuszynski said that any items unsold after the championship round "will be donated to golf-related nonprofits" (Tacoma NEWS TRIBUNE, 6/11).
