‘It’s been pretty crazy’: Golden Knights retailers see big jump in sales
The Vegas Golden Knights are on the cusp of possibly winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, and team merchandise is flying off store shelves.
The Knights have a chance Tuesday to beat the Florida Panthers and capture their first Stanley Cup. Las Vegas Valley fans have rallied behind them as the team pursued their second trip to the Stanley Cup Final, five years after making the finals in their 2018 inaugural season.
With all the hype surrounding the team, many retailers are seeing an increase in demand for more Knights merchandise as fans snapped up T-shirts, hats and other merchandise to support the team. This increase has led to additional, but expected, stress on some stores.
“It’s been tough,” said Larry Huynh, general buyer/manager of Vegas Sports and Hockey. “In the first year when they went to the finals, there were plenty of vendors that would sell to us, but since the pandemic, those numbers of vendors have gone down.”
Over at the Armory, the official team store located inside of T-Mobile Arena is busy keeping its shelves stocked for local Knights fans.
“We have a new team that is helping us out at the moment, so as more inventory is going out, they’re helping us bring more in,” said Marilyn Vasquez, store lead at the Armory.
Huynh said that the store usually runs reports every couple of days to try to predict the outcome of the games and better gauge inventory needs.
The store wants to avoid being in a situation like it was in 2019 when the Knights were up 3-1 and the store bought a bunch of merchandise to stock up, just for the team to end up losing in a game 7, he said.
To that end, the store has learned from the experience how to manage stock levels as the Knights continue to see success, Huynh said.
Despite hectic moments facing their stores during the Knights finals run, both Huynh and Vasquez hope to see the Knights win their first cup and how it would impact their businesses.
“It would be like a second Christmas, Huynh said. “It would be great for us. Business has been steady and was a little slow going into the playoffs, but now that the team is in the finals, it’s been pretty crazy.”
If the Knights do win the Stanley Cup, the Armory is prepared for an uptick in selling to faithful fans into the future.
“It would mean more business, more community, and more service,” Vasquez said. “We would have more to look forward to for the future of the team.”
Contact Kiara Adams at kadams@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-0399. Follow @kiadams101 on Twitter.
