Local Syracuse businesses specializing in Syracuse University goods have been seeing an increase in sales since the announcement SU will play in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl Thursday.

‘We have had a definite increase in sales because of the bowl game,’ said Bill Nester, a co-owner of Manny’s, located on Marshall Street. ‘People are buying just a lot of Syracuse stuff. Since the team hasn’t gone to a bowl game in a while, people are very excited.’

Manny’s currently offers two T -shirts for the bowl game and one baseball cap, but Nester said a lot of people have been buying apparel for SU and not just the bowl game.

Nester could not give any specific numbers on how much merchandise has been sold for the bowl game, but he said the store sells a lot more merchandise when the sports teams are doing well.

‘The sales lately don’t really compare to the off-season sales, in the middle of winter it’s harder to get people to come into the store,’ Nester said. ‘We were extremely busy once the football team started doing well.’

If the team wins the bowl game, Manny’s will try to have something in store for fans as soon as possible, he said.

Manny’s orders its stock of bowl apparel every few days, Nester said. If the team loses the bowl game, the store will re-evaluate the situation to see if they should keep ordering the existing bowl T-shirts or not.

Papa’s Sports, located on Park Street in Syracuse, near the Carousel Center, partnered with Shirt It Up to create a number of different bowl related apparel, including the licensed Pinstripe Bowl shirt, said Kimberly Tucker, the outside sales representative for the store.

The store also carries an orange short sleeve shirt, a black short sleeve shirt and a black sweatshirt among other choices, Tucker said.

‘Our business has increased greatly,’ Tucker said. ‘We’ve even kept our store open a little longer past five o’clock so people could get to us.’

Papa’s Sports has also sent some of its merchandise to be sold by employees in Yankee Stadium during the game, Tucker said. The two owners, Michael Toomey and Glen Miles will be attending the game as fans, she said.

The store is also prepared to have a championship shirt for the team. Tucker said a design is already prepared and the store will begin printing the shirts as soon as possible. The store will continue to sell its merchandise if the team does not win.

Follett’s Orange Bookstore, located in the Marshall Square Mall, has also seen a rise in sales because of the success of the football team, said Tom Rowe, a manager at the store, but could not give specific numbers of sales either.

‘The students are gone now, but we did see some activity a couple weeks ago, during finals week when students were returning books,’ Rowe said. ‘We expect the sales to pick up again next week, since we’ll be the champions of the Pinstripe Bowl.’

Rowe said that if the Orange wins the bowl game, Follett’s will have T-shirts ready the next day.

If the team loses the bowl game, Follett’s will continue to sell its bowl apparel, Rowe said, but will probably mark it down to a lower price for people who did not have shirts before the game.

Rowe also said Follett’s experiences more sales of apparel when the athletic teams are experiencing more success.

‘When they’re doing very well, we are very active, especially the days when there are home games,’ Rowe said. ‘We tend to see a lot of cold weather apparel being sold then, but there’s not the excitement when the teams aren’t doing as well.’

Nester, Tucker and Rowe all said they hope Coach Marrone and the team will do well in the bowl game, as it will boost morale for the whole community.

‘This is a tremendous accomplishment for the coach. We are so happy for the kids and especially the seniors, since they are going out on a high note now,’ Nester said. ‘We are so happy for the team, so happy for the program and this is good for business, too.’

The effects of the bowl game are not limited to the Syracuse area either, as New York Yankees President Randy Levine said the Pinstripe Bowl will help boost the city’s economy by $30 million, according to an article published on Bloomberg.com Dec. 28. The money will come from ticket sales, hotel fares and restaurants, Levine said.

medelane@syr.edu

Published on December 29, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Meghin: medelane@syr.edu | @meghinwithani