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ALBANY remembers when he became a Yankee fan: It was at his first baseball game, in 1956 with his uncle, when the Yankees played the .
Betz is now the manager of a Crossgates Mall speciality shop called that sells team apparel and memorabilia. On the day after the Yankees won the 2009 World Series, business was brisk.
“I’ve never rooted for any professional baseball team other than the Yankees,” Betz said, grinning. “Unless the were playing. Then I rooted for the opposing team.”
Within a span of 10 minutes on Thursday, at least 10 people entered the shop where nearly everything for sale is dark blue or carries the Yankees logo. wholesale nfl jerseys from china Customers were after shirts and baseball caps to celebrate Wednesday night’s Game 6 Yankees win that earned the team its 27th World Series title, its first since 2000.
Betz said the World Series apparel had yet to arrive, and more than 20 customers were on a callback list for when it did.
The team’s successful season has driven an unusual amount of traffic to the store, he said.
“In the midst of a bad economic year, business has been slower than usual,” Betz said. “But throughout the past several months, there’s been a definite marked spike in sales. The stuff we have has been flying off the shelves.”
Yankee Dugout established seven years ago is a spinoff of The Stadium, a sporting goods store just a few stores down that offers apparel and memorabilia from all teams and sports. The existence of a store that sells only Yankee’s gear is a testament to the strength and volume of his niche customers, Betz said.
“The Yankees have extremely loyal fans, and there’s a great fan base for them here,” Betz said. “People like to be associated with winners.”
At Dick’s Sporting Goods, tables and racks near the front entrance of the new two floor store were covered with an assortment of World Series t shirts, long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts and baseball caps. Prices started at $25.99 for the t shirts, $29.99 for hats, and $45.99 for a sweatshirt.
, 23, a sociology student at the University at Albany, rifled through the shirts while already wearing several pieces of Yankee branded clothing. A self proclaimed fan for life, Foster said he has several T shirts, jerseys and hats. Buying a shirt to commemorate victories like the World Series is important, he said.
“It’s the first Series that I’ve been able to watch from the very beginning,” Foster said. “I definitely want to be able to hold on to a little part of it.”
Sue Rullo, of Loudonville, carried a hat, had a shirt under her arm and was going through the pile of sweatshirts. She said she wasn’t much of a fan herself, but her husband was.
“My brother and nephew came over last night,” Rullo said. “They were so happy, they were hugging each other. He was like ‘We gotta go to Dick’s tonight! We gotta get the stuff!'”
