Byline: Sean Coughlin
Dec. 18--Sometimes, success on the football field translates into success behind the cash register.
While nearly a quarter of his annual sales now come from college apparel and merchandise, 25 years ago Savannah sporting goods store owner Larry Thompson was lucky to have a Georgia T-shirt or two in stock.
Then, in 1980, a running back from Wrightsville arrived on the University of Georgia campus. Two seasons later, Herschel Walker won the Heisman Trophy, ensuring the folk-hero status he now holds.
After that, Georgia merchandise sales were never the same at Thompson's, then located in the Medical Arts shopping center on Waters Avenue.
'In the Herschel Walker days, we started selling T-shirts, jerseys, jackets -- a lot of them,' said Thompson, whose 42-year-old business is now on White Bluff Road near Oglethorpe Mall. 'That was really the start of it.'
Thompson's is not alone.
The sale of college merchandise is big business across the country. According to The Collegiate Licensing Co. in Atlanta, more than $2 million worth of licensed college merchandise was sold last year.
While Savannah retailers have long sold college apparel and a few novelty items, recently the competition -- and the number of items available -- has exploded. Now, UGA merchandise -- and college apparel, in general -- is easier to find in town than a slice of pizza.
'There's new places opening up and there's a lot of other places that have been here awhile that have started selling UGA items,' said John DeLoach, president of the Savannah Bulldog Club. 'You start winning and people want to be on the bandwagon.'
In the last six months, at least three stores that sell college apparel and/or novelty items have opened in Savannah -- Bulldogs on Montgomery Crossroads, Fanz Zone in Oglethorpe Mall and Steve & Barry's University Sportswear in Savannah Mall.
All have their niche -- Bulldogs sells all licensed UGA merchandise; Fanz Zone's shelves and racks include licensed clothing and products from several different Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference schools; while Steve & Barry's University Sportswear, a Port Washington, N.Y.-based chain, sells everything for $9.98 or less. That includes licensed T-shirts from California schools such as UCLA and Stanford, along with Peach State-based Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern.
On Sept. 1, with little fanfare, Bulldogs opened in a strip shopping center across from Kmart.
It's hard to miss. A large inflatable version of mascot Hairy Dog greets you before you get through the door.
The 1,500-square-foot store is co-owned by Savannah's Bob Sitgraves and his brother Jack, who lives in Johnson City, Tenn. Jack is the owner of a store in Johnson City called HoundDogs, which sells University of Tennessee clothing and paraphernalia.
'Obviously, we patterned it off that,' said Bob, who has lived in Savannah since 1978 and owns Coastal Cars on Hodgson Memorial Drive. 'Tennessee fans are a lot like Georgia fans. They've very loyal. They support you good, bad or indifferent. We were surprised that nobody down here had done it. It's a unique concept. We felt it was the right time.'
Among Bulldogs' best-selling items are car flags, which range in price from $10.97 to $12.97, and 15 different hats. The store's most unusual items include Christmas tree lights with the UGA 'G.'
Bob Sitgraves would not divulge how sales have been with Christmas fast approaching. 'We're paying the bills,' he said. He added, however, that if Bulldogs takes off, he'll consider opening the same store in other locales.
'We're looking at Augusta, Macon and Gainesville, Ga.,' he said.
It is easy to spot college apparel on a quick walk through Oglethorpe Mall.
It's all over -- from Florida A&M sweatshirts at Foot Locker, to Georgia Tech, UGA, South Carolina and Florida calendars at a calendar-only kiosk, to neon UGA helmets at Fanz Zone, the only store at Oglethorpe Mall devoted entirely to college apparel and merchandise.
Rick Moore opened the store in August after stocking a small section of his other store, 'Someplace Special' in Savannah, with college novelty items the past few years.
'People kept asking for college items more and more, and that eventually led to Fanz Zone,' Moore said. 'The demand was there.'
The demand for UGA items was strong enough that Moore also opened an all-UGA merchandise kiosk in front of 'Someplace Special' for holiday shopping.
'Business has been good,' Moore said. 'People keep asking for things, I keep looking for them. College fans like their teams. They seem to enjoy their teams more than pro fans.'
The sale of sports apparel and merchandise may be the rage in Savannah now, but Ronnie Driggers has had his Fan Shop at Savannah Mall for four years. Seventy percent of his sales are UGA apparel and merchandise, he said, but he also sells Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Florida State, Florida and Miami items, among other schools.
'We have grown every year,' said Driggers, who used to sell merchandise on the Internet. 'For the longest time, we were the only collegiate store. It is odd that Savannah did not have a store like this before.'
Driggers sells mostly apparel, while fellow mall retailer Lydene Fiocca, owner of Lydene's Gifts and Collectibles, has gone the novelty route to fill most of her shelves.
If you want a meat brander or seasonings with your school's logo, an afghan, Christmas ornaments, slippers, mascot figurines and quilted handbags, she has it.
'We've been restocking the college items more than anything else,' said Fiocca, whose store is divided -- religious and sentimental gift items take up most of the space. 'Everybody has a shirt, but not everybody has a UGA snow globe. We started this last Thanksgiving and it has been very popular. It's hard to find gifts for men anyway. This makes it easy.'
Fiocca said Auburn fans, in particular, have rewarded themselves lately for beating UGA and winning the Southeastern Conference title.
'We sell more Georgia stuff than any school, but Auburn is a strong No. 2,' Fiocca said.
Enough pie for everybody All the competition for retailers selling college merchandise in Savannah doesn't seem to worry Thompson, the captain of UGA's 1964 baseball team.
'I've been here so long that things like that don't bother me,' he said. 'In my younger days, that would've probably bothered me.'
Much like new Savannah Mall tenants Target and Texas Roadhouse, Driggers and Foccia think Steve & Barry's, a 110,000-square foot store, may actually help them.
'Anytime you take an empty space and fill it, it's good,' Fiocca said.
'Hopefully, it will put traffic in the mall,' Driggers said.
What will help sales more than anything, Thompson said, is for Georgia, especially the football team, to keep winning. The more the Bulldogs win, the more the merchandise flies off shelves all over town.
'In Savannah, there's nothing that people are more passionate about than Georgia football,' DeLoach said.
Even the weather is cooperating.
The cooler temperatures of the past week have been a godsend to any retailer with sweatshirts on their shelves.
Now fans can stay warm while wearing their school on their chest.
Steve & Barry's University Sportswear has been called 'Old Navy on steroids' more times than Andy Dicker can count, so forgive him if he doesn't think the description does his store justice.
'Everybody is trying to classify us,' said Dicker, Steve & Barry's executive vice president. 'I find it a little bit too easy to compare us to Old Navy.'
Both stores have a modern look, nice fixtures and their own line of colorful and inexpensive clothing.
Steve & Barry's clothes are even cheaper. At the new Savannah Mall location, everything in the store is $9.98 or less.
No wonder the store has no immediate advertising plans.
'Word of mouth is our best advertiser,' Dicker said from company headquarters in suburban New York city.
'Customers can't believe the prices. When they get in the store, they look at the clothing and get on their cell phone and call their friends and family. That's our best advertising.'
Steve & Barry's sells jeans, sweatshirts, coats, and hats, but T-shirts are its focus. Its line of shirts includes more than 100 colleges and slogans. State schools such as Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern are for sale, along with off-the-ACC/SEC path schools such as Howard and Stanford.
'It's a nice store,' said Tina Bass, an assistant manager at Hibbett's Sports in the Savannah Mall. 'I saw that they sell Ohio State T-shirts. They're not going to sell a Georgia cheerleading outfit like us, but they do have a nice selection of T-shirts.'
Savannah is not the only Georgia city with a Steve & Barry's. Three months ago, the Port Jefferson, N.Y.-based private chain opened a store in Brunswick at Colonial Mall. Dicker said the 65-store chain plans to add 50 stores in 2005.
TOP-SELLING SCHOOLS YEAR TO DATE:
1. Michigan 2. North Carolina 3. Texas 4. Georgia 5. Tennessee 6. Notre Dame 7. Florida 8. Oklahoma 9. Louisiana State 10. Alabama 14. Auburn 19. South Carolina 20. Clemson 34. Georgia Tech .
LICENSED PRODUCTS:
When a college product -- apparel or any other souvenir -- carries a licensing label, it signifies the manufacturer is authorized to use a school's logo and the product has passed standards established by the school. It also signifies a portion of the purchase -- a royalty -- is returned to the school. For Georgia and Georgia Tech, that amount is 8 percent; for Georgia Southern, it is 7 percent. GSU collected approximately $90,000 in licensing royalties last year, while UGA made well over $1 million.
UNLICENSED PRODUCTS:
Examples of unlicensed products are the Savannah State replica football jerseys sold recently by a local man at SSU's homecoming weekend Oct. 28-30. The replica jerseys featured the college number and name of former Savannah State standout Shannon Sharpe.
Other unlicensed products include T-shirts that a college club/fraternity might print up that make fun of their school's archrival. You won't see one in the school bookstore.
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