NBA Finals T-shirts and hats, as well as Western Conference championship apparel, were selling out in Oklahoma City-area stores Thursday as fans "scrambled to purchase a piece of the action, a wearable reminder" of the Thunder's win over the Spurs Wednesday night in the Western Conference Finals, according to Jennifer Palmer of the OKLAHOMAN. Officials at major retailers such as Academy Sports + Outdoors and J.C. Penney, as well as the Thunder team store in Chesapeake Energy Arena, said that “cash registers haven't stopped ringing since Wednesday night's win.” One local J.C. Penney store that initially had “two racks stuffed with shirts had dwindled to one with just a few left by Thursday afternoon.” Store Manager Lisa Danielson said that people “were lined up outside the door when it opened at 10 a.m.” Texas-based retail chain Academy Sports + Outdoors stores reopened “across the state … after the Thunder victory, selling official finals shirts.” One cashier “compared it to Black Friday, but more focused.” The stores “remained open as long as there were customers, which in most cases was just before 2 a.m.” Academy Senior Communications Coordinator Eric Herrera said that “a similar late-night shopping spree will occur if the Thunder wins the championship” (OKLAHOMAN, 6/8). SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's John Lombardo in next week's issue reports sales of Thunder merchandise on NBAStore.com were up 80% "compared with the team's total for the first two rounds of the playoffs last season." Through the first five games of Thunder-Spurs, sales total on the site were up 173% "from the total for last year's conference finals appearance" against the Mavericks. Merchandise sales at the team's shop at Chesapeake Energy Arena "have increased by about 13 percent during the postseason" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/11 issue).
