What's Going Down(town)

Minor-league sports apparel major draw among gift-buyers
Link (JG)

“Despite a struggling economy, sales of sports gear for Fort Wayne’s popular minor league hockey franchise remained steady while hats and T-shirts featuring the TinCaps sold at an extraordinary rate compared with the past four years when the team was known as the Wizards.

“It’s going over very well,” said Brian Schackow, vice president of sales and finance for the Tin Caps, who has been with the organization for six seasons.

Team officials revealed the new logo only a few months ago, but they’ve received three times the Internet orders for merchandise this holiday season than in the four previous holiday seasons combined, Schackow said.

And offseason sales, measured from mid-September to the first of April, have already eclipsed the best Wizards mark from the past four years by 400 percent, according to Schackow.

“Those numbers are tremendously exciting,” Schackow said.

Schackow said the struggling economy was a concern for the team, but the initial bashing from fans who took time to express their displeasure with the name was not. In fact, national logo consultants prepped team officials for the ridiculing.

“They spelled out how this was going to go,” Schackow said. “They told us the first week, second week, we’d be the dumbest guys in baseball. When we started selling and selling, it put any doubts to rest.””

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“So far, nothing looks negative for the TinCaps when it comes to the apparel.

As hordes of people made their way through Glenbrook Square on Friday, more than a few took the time to stop at a little shop near Macy’s devoted to the team. If they didn’t buy anything, they certainly looked through the shirts and hats that were there, according to Trish Morrow, a cashier at the store.

“A lot of people are excited about the name,” Morrow said. “I think it’s growing on them.””