mentionable ........................................................................................................................................ ..................................................................
A Winning Formula PJ LAILHENGUE - MIKE’S DEN WRITTEN BY CHELSEA ADAMS PHOTOS BY PAM HENDRIX
MINUTES AFTER THE Saints
won the Super Bowl in Miami in 2010, PJ Lailhengue boarded a plane to return to New Orleans. The flight landed around 2 a.m., but instead of going home to sleep, he went straight to a print shop on the Southshore. As the owner of Mike’s Den, Lailhengue needed to pick up an order of t-shirts and hats, commemorating the Saints’ victory. It’s a good thing he made that late-night trip across the lake. The next morning, fans descended on his Mandeville store to purchase the attire. “The line wrapped around the building. We had to hire security to manage the crowd,” he said. Giving Saints and LSU fans what they want drives Lailhengue’s business. It’s a delicate art, a true balancing act. He’s got to anticipate how much to order a year before it ever reaches the shelves. That’s because it takes 10 months from the time he places an order until the products arrive in his store. So to prepare for the upcoming football season—one of the most popular times of the year for Mike’s Den—Lailhengue has to place orders for merchandise the prior October. He’s got to correctly guess how much to order to meet shoppers’ demand. If he doesn’t order enough, there’s a good chance the manufacturer won’t have additional product later in the season and fans will have to go without the polo shirts, t-shirts and hats they want. “A lot of apparel companies used to carry back-up product but so many are cutting back,” he said. “They don’t want to take the financial risk of having inventory left over. That’s why you have to order the right amount.” Over the past 12 years, Lailhengue has perfected the craft of ordering fan apparel and gear. He bought Mike’s Den in 2005 and learned the in’s and out’s of the sporting apparel market. “When a product comes in, I know what’s going to sell and what’s not,” he said. Maybe that’s because he spends so much time with other fans who make up his customer base. Each year, Lailhengue, his wife and now an infant daughter make a vacation out of an away game, going last year to Lambeau Field to watch LSU play Wisconsin. He’s also a long-time Saints’ season ticket holder. While he’s a fan of both teams, Lailhengue also knows his sales are dependent on teams’ successes and failures. “It’s easy to make money in this industry when the teams are successful since the business is
10
Sophisticated Woman | August 2017