Warriors championship merchandise selling fast at Modesto stores

The morning after the Golden State Warriors held off the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-97 to win their first world championship in 40 years, “Dubs” apparel was flying off the shelves of Modesto stores – or selling before it even arrived.

At Dick’s Sporting Goods at Vintage Faire Mall, “it’s all T-shirts and hats,” said Kevin Petty, the store manager, explaining that “hard goods” – pennants, stickers, anything not worn – weren’t moving nearly as briskly.

Dick’s had all its Warriors championship merchandise on hand well before the win Tuesday night. “We were fully stocked and ready to go just in case they won last night – it was just an if-when scenario,” Petty said. “We were stocked and loaded,” he added, noting that the store stayed open late Tuesday, until about 11 p.m., and opened at 7 a.m. – two hours early – on Wednesday.

“Any store that’s going to sell this stuff had it in advance, and if the Warriors didn’t win, I guess it goes to third-world countries,” Petty said. “We were joking last night about what’s happening to Cavs’ stuff today.”

The $30 championship ballcap was the store’s biggest-selling piece of Warriors merchandise, Petty said. Dick’s had 75 of them Tuesday night and sold out, and got 75 more Wednesday morning. Of that second shipment, about 50 were left as of 10:45 a.m. “We get four or five calls an hour specifically asking about the hat,” Petty said. “It might be a good idea for us to limit the amount people can buy because they might just be reselling them.”

By midafternoon, the hats were gone – for the time being.

“We missed the hat by a minute – the man in front of us got the last one,” said Modesto resident Summer Leal, who was with her diehard Warriors fan husband, Matt, out shopping for shirts and caps.

“We went to Sports Authority and Lids, but they didn’t have the hats in yet,” she added, so they turned their hat hunt toward the Internet.

It was busy at Dick’s but “it wasn’t horrible,” Leal said. “The table with all the shirts got surrounded for a minute. There were quite a few people out.”

Still, the Leals found all the shirts they needed – one each for Summer, Matt, Matt’s dad and their daughter, Skylar. Matt, 31, was born and raised a Warriors fan. “He’s been waiting for this (championship) for 31 years, and his dad’s been waiting since 1975.” And now Matt’s raising Skylar as a fan. “She’s 5 and she’s all about the Warriors,” Summer said. “She was very excited” about her new blue shirt.

A marketing manager for Dick’s said stores would be getting shipments in throughout Wednesday and also has all the Warriors championship products at dickssportinggoods.com. “Traffic has been fantastic,” said Billy Burkhalter, senior community marketing manager for Northern California.

He said the Warriors have a big, loyal fan base and sales have been on par with Giants World Series and 49ers playoff and Super Bowl gear. “There’s big excitement about a team that hasn’t won the championships for many years, but if they do it again next year, we’d expect to see the same thing,” Burkhalter said, adding that repeated World Series wins by the Giants did nothing to diminish fan fever.

The manager of the Sports Authority store at McHenry and Standiford avenues also said Warriors merchandise was moving fast. “We’re carrying all the locker-room product – tees and hats, the stuff they give the players in the locker room after the game,” Ashley Whitcomb said, adding that the store was expecting delivery of additional products.

Two stores in Vintage Faire Mall – Sporters and Champs – also were expecting deliveries of Warriors gear Wednesday afternoon.

“Mr. Curry is the No. 1 seller,” Champs store manager Veronica (she could not give her last name) said, referring, of course, to Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, the NBA MVP. “His jerseys have been sold out. We have some tees with his name and a couple of other players – (Klay) Thompson, (Andre) Iguodala.”

To feed fans’ hunger, a new shipment of shirts and hats was making its way up from Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, Veronica said. It was to be picked up in the Bay Area around 2 p.m. for hopeful Modesto arrival by late afternoon.

And Sporters’ Polly Khuth said she was taking pre-orders for championship shirts and hats expected to come in later in the day. “We’re getting a lot of calls and customers coming in,” she said in the morning.

This story was originally published June 17, 2015 at 12:26 PM with the headline "Warriors championship merchandise selling fast at Modesto stores."