WINNING WITH LICENSED SPORTS PRODUCTS

STORY BY MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS-VILLANO

Officially licensed sports products can hit profit margins out of the park.

When it comes time to “take someone out to the ballgame,” they may want more than peanuts and Cracker Jacks as the song indicates. They may want a souvenir that lasts a little longer like a licensed, authentic MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA or WNBA jersey, hat, cup or other item to commemorate the game.

Selling officially licensed sports products can be a very lucrative enterprise for a gift shop owner. People all over the world love their sports, their teams and their players, and they love to display their fandom in tangible ways.

It’s a home run if your store happens to be located in a big sports town like Chicago.

The Windy City is home to two major league baseball teams, the Cubs and the White Sox, plus the NHL’s Blackhawks, the NBA’s Bulls (Michael Jordan’s former team!) and, of course, representing the NFL, “da Bears.” These legendary teams have been joined in recent years by the WNBA’s Sky and soccer’s Fire.

Stephanie Ganal owns and manages Grandstand, not far from Guaranteed Rate Field (formerly Comiskey Park) where the White Sox play. It’s a family business; her parents opened the 3,000-square-foot shop in 1989.

“There’s always a sport playing, always a big game being played somewhere in Chicago,” Ganal says. “When baseball’s over, football starts; when football’s over, you have hockey and then basketball and then we go right back into baseball. So our door is always open.”

No matter what sport a fan favors, they’re bound to find something to take home at Grandstand. “We pride ourselves in knowing that we are the largest supplier of all Chicago team merchandise under one roof,” Ganal says. “Anything that the leagues license for all five Chicago teams, we carry. We have thousands of SKUs.”

College teams also get in on the gravy train, as Chris Stephens, manager of Gator Beach & Sport, Daytona Beach, Florida, can attest. The store carries only licensed University of Florida Gators

Serving All Ages

One of the great things about selling licensed sports goods is that they are purchased by customers of every background, gender and age group. “I wouldn’t say there’s a particular age group that buys it,” says Chris Stephens, manager of Gator Beach & Sport, Daytona Beach, Florida. “The Gators have a very loyal fan base.”

Stephanie Ganal, owner and manager of Grandstand, Chicago, echoes that sentiment. “We don’t have a certain demographic or age group. We’ve been here 37 years, and we pride ourselves in knowing that everybody that walks through the door either is or has been part of our family.”

She says the store has been around long enough to have seen generations of fans come through its doors. “It’s the grandpa bringing in the son or the grandson, definitely a heritage thing,” she says. “The entire family comes in.”

“It’s a trickle-down effect from kids to adults,” Ganal describes. “The kids remember coming to our store before games. Say you’ve been bringing your daughter in from the time she was little. Then all of a sudden you’re in your 60s, she’s in her 40s and now, she’s bringing in her kids.” merchandise for any of the teams bearing that name, whether they play football, basketball, baseball, softball or volleyball.

The store is also a favorite stop for folks who grew up in Chicago but now live elsewhere, according to Ganal.

At Baltimore Sports & Novelty, owner Jeffrey Katzen carries both licensed pro and college-team merch.

“We have some stuff for the Baltimore Orioles and the Ravens, also for the University of Maryland Terrapins. We don’t sell as much of the U of M stuff because it’s harder for us to get.”

Not Just Jerseys

If you’ve ever been to a Disney resort, you know there’s no shortage of Disney-branded merchandise for sale, everything from plastic light sabers to mouthwash cups. It certainly looks as if all the professional sports leagues have taken a page from The Mouse’s merchandising playbook.

Grandstand’s merch mix includes “literally everything that the MLB, NFL, NBA or NHL licenses — pins, keychains, cups, shot glasses, flags, sippy cups, gift cards, greeting cards, rugs, trailer hitch covers and toothbrushes, plus shirts, jerseys, and hats for all sizes from 12 months all the way up to a size 6X. You name it, if it has a team logo on it, we have it in the building.” For tiny fans-in-training, there are even team-logo diapers.

Baltimore Sports is stuffed with “jerseys, hats, helmets, flags, tumblers, T-shirts, polo shirts, jewelry, plush animals, inflatables, bats, blankets, pillows and pictures,” Katzen says — all of them bearing logos for Baltimore’s teams: the Orioles, the Ravens and the U of M Terrapins.

Gator Beach & Sport is similarly outfitted, carrying a large selection of licensed Florida Gators apparel, “from outerwear all the way down to T-shirts, tanks, women’s clothing, hats, sandals, belts and socks for infants, youth and adults,” Stephens says. “We also carry licensed accessories like house flags, stickers, lunchboxes, golf stuff and some novelty items.”

Something For Every Fan

All of these stores feature items in a range of price points so that even the most budget-conscious shopper need not go home empty-handed.

“Our range starts at around $3 and goes up to about $500 for a framed autographed jersey,” Katzen says.

Grandstand’s price range extends all the way from a 60 cent pencil to a $1,200 autographed World Series bat. Ganal says the average price point is around $40.

“We have hats that are $25, some that are $40, some T-shirts that are $30 and some that are $50, plus kid’s shirts that $12 and $20,” Ganal says. “We even have a clearance section where it’s ‘buy one, get one free.’ We make sure we have something for everybody’s budget.”

Seasons For Sales

Ganal says Grandstand is only “kind of” slow in January and February, with the busiest time being from March to October “and then again in November and December — of course, we’re always busy for holiday time.”

At Baltimore Sports, the busiest days are “right before the home games,” Katzen says. “People want to go to the game and get something new.”

The mix of licensed sports merchandise varies throughout the year depending on which sports season it is. This also impacts sales. For Stephens, says. “Anything that people see on national TV that the players or coaches are wearing, like the on-field hats, those type of items are the most popular.”

She makes sure fans can find what they’re looking for in the store. “We carry jerseys for all five Chicago teams and hats for every MLB team, not just the Chicago ones.”

For Stephens, the current hot item is Gators team T-shirts.

Sales of licensed sports products spike when a team is on a hot streak. Baltimore Sports gets busy “if a team makes the playoffs,” Katzen says. “Also just before Father’s Day and Christmas.”

Currently, Katzen’s biggest-selling items are “Orioles jerseys and T-shirts because right now they’re winning, and people are going to the games.”

Ganal adds, “Although we’re steadily busy all year ‘round, in the licensed sports goods industry, your sales are only as good as your team is. The better your team is doing, the busier you are. But if the team isn’t doing well through the season it’s a rough one.”

Trending And Sourcing

not surprisingly, “Football season is probably the most popular.” But, he adds, “We’re in a tourist location so we do have a lot of foot traffic in the spring through the summer as well. Football season is a smaller time frame, but in terms of sales, fall football probably beats out spring and summer.”

Grandstand also sees more demand for football gear during the fall. But for that store, baseball is always king. “Because of our location right outside of the White Sox stadium, we’re always busy with baseball gear,” Ganal says. “We do a lot of online sales too for other teams. Sales are stronger for teams that are in season.”

What Fans Want

Jerseys and hats are the most popular licensed apparel at Grandstand.

“Jerseys are always going to be number one — anything that the players wear on the field,” Ganal

Among a retailer’s many jobs is keeping tabs on changing fashions. “That’s something that we pride ourselves on,” Ganal says. “We’re huge fans of all of our Chicago teams. Just from being true fans, we know what’s trending with fans within the city.”

Sourcing the merchandise isn’t a struggle. “The leagues have licensed companies that we deal with,” says Ganal. “We don’t outsource, they come to us and show us the new product lines.”

Stephens makes an effort to showcase new and seasonal items when they come into the store.

Katzen takes a more laid back approach. “We just put them on the rack and mix them in with the other stuff,” he says.

Ganal posts her new items on social media, “but within the building, we don’t really put them in a specific area.”

Retailers carrying licensed sports products have huge customer bases, appealing not only to sports fans but also for people who like to buy gifts for the sports fans in their lives. It’s a winning scenario. SGN