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Sporting Apparel Store in the 90's.


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Damn, this brings me back.

 

From about 1987 on, anytime I went anywhere, I had to check out "the mall" and that of course meant the sporting apparel store.  It was like Christmas day just being in there and actually seeing all the new stuff in color ( this was pre-internet, when if you got anything in terms of new logos and such, you got it in the black-and-white Sporting News, or MAYBE a small color photo in SI)

 

And by anywhere, I mean ANYWHERE.  On vacation, on business trips, moving somewhere new, etc. 

 

Some of my favorite memories of going into those stores:

 

1986 -- Seeing a cool plaque with the Saints 'Huddle"  done as an armored knight (I had only seen it done as a football player, just like the Browns) at the place in the Riverwalk in New Orleans.  Never saw that elsewhere

1987 -- First seeing the Orlando Magic logo on a rugby-type shirt at Perimeter Mall in Atlanta.

1992 -- 1st seeing the Tampa Bay Lightning jerseys at some mall in St. Petersburg; about 10 months later buying the black one.

1992 -- Seeing and purchasing an old San Francisco Seals cap at the Stonestown Galleria in SF.

1993 -- Checking out a couple of such stores in the Mall of America in Minnesota; seeing the brand-new purple green and silver Bucks jerseys there.

1994 -- Seeing a really cool replica Toronto St. Pats sweater at a store in CNN Center; wanted to buy it for my friend but they only had small and medium. 

1995 -- Seeing all the new St. Louis Rams gear at a place in Union Station in StL.

 

 

It is what it is.

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On 11/7/2019 at 3:13 PM, WSU151 said:

@imawalkingcorpse How hard was it to keep new logos a secret?

It really wasn't a big deal. Of course that all changed in 1997 when you had 3 new NFL logo's with the Broncos, Jets and Buccaneers changing plus the impending Oilers change and the Ravens in 96. I was the first store in the city with all of those new logos on hats and shirts. 

I hate the new Buccaneers logo. Pewter was boring in 97, even more boring now.

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5 hours ago, B-Rich said:

It was like Christmas day just being in there and actually seeing all the new stuff in color ( this was pre-internet, when if you got anything in terms of new logos and such, you got in in the black-and-white Sporting News, or MAYBE a small color photo in SI)

 

The first time I ever saw the 1997 Bucs logo was off one of the team flags they used to fly at Rich Stadium in Buffalo... pretty bad-ass way to low-key reveal an identity.

 

@imawalkingcorpse please tell me you have leftover inventory you're looking to get rid of!!

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1 hour ago, C-Squared said:

 

The first time I ever saw the 1997 Bucs logo was off one of the team flags they used to fly at Rich Stadium in Buffalo... pretty bad-ass way to low-key reveal an identity.

 

@imawalkingcorpse please tell me you have leftover inventory you're looking to get rid of!!

Nope :) Everything I have is from my own personal collection at this point. 

I hate the new Buccaneers logo. Pewter was boring in 97, even more boring now.

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11 hours ago, C-Squared said:

 

The first time I ever saw the 1997 Bucs logo was off one of the team flags they used to fly at Rich Stadium in Buffalo... pretty bad-ass way to low-key reveal an identity.

 

@imawalkingcorpse please tell me you have leftover inventory you're looking to get rid of!!

 

For the NBA I remember the Draft was usually when I would discover that teams got new logos or colors.  That always added some interest for me.  

90758391980.gif

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Great photos...I loved stores like this in the 1990s.  The reduction of these places is a negative result of the internet.  

Disclaimer: If this comment is about an NBA uniform from 2017-2018 or later, do not constitute a lack of acknowledgement of the corporate logo to mean anything other than "the corporate logo is terrible and makes the uniform significantly worse."

 

BADGERS TWINS VIKINGS TIMBERWOLVES WILD

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7 hours ago, OnWis97 said:

Great photos...I loved stores like this in the 1990s.  The reduction of these places is a negative result of the internet.  

 

Agree to a good extent; however, the internet has made it far easier to purchase non-local items for transplanted fans (or people who just like teams in other locations). This particular store seemed to have a wide array of teams, but a lot of local stores did not. 

Smart is believing half of what you hear. Genius is knowing which half.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/14/2019 at 1:02 PM, WSU151 said:

 

Agree to a good extent; however, the internet has made it far easier to purchase non-local items for transplanted fans (or people who just like teams in other locations). This particular store seemed to have a wide array of teams, but a lot of local stores did not. 

We specialized in in non-local teams. Of course we sold Chiefs gear, but I sold just as much Raiders, Cowboys, Broncos, Packers, Dolphins and other teams (including Buccaneers) because there was JC Penneys in the mall that always had Chiefs stuff on sale. 

I hate the new Buccaneers logo. Pewter was boring in 97, even more boring now.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Reminds me of this apparel shop that was in my neck of the woods around that time.  Foot Locker and Champs too, to lesser extents, though they usually stuck to the superstars...of course, nowadays only the latter still sells jerseys, at least here.

2016cubscreamsig.png

A strong mind gets high off success, a weak mind gets high off bull🤬

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On 11/7/2019 at 8:10 PM, imawalkingcorpse said:

It really wasn't a big deal. Of course that all changed in 1997 when you had 3 new NFL logo's with the Broncos, Jets and Buccaneers changing plus the impending Oilers change and the Ravens in 96. I was the first store in the city with all of those new logos on hats and shirts. 

Jets changed in 1998. I found this out in an odd way. I went to the HoF that year and bought a pocket pro of what I thought was a Namath throwback. Turned out to be their “new” helmet. Made me wish I’d bought the outgoing green version instead because I liked that one better. 

 

1997 was also the year the Dolphins changed. It wasn’t as big a change as the others though. 

 

 

On 11/8/2019 at 9:40 AM, DC in Da House w/o a Doubt said:

 

For the NBA I remember the Draft was usually when I would discover that teams got new logos or colors.  That always added some interest for me.  

You know how I found out about the Pistons’ and Timberwolves’ new logos in 1996? NBA-licensed pencils. Yes, really. 

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On 12/21/2019 at 5:12 PM, MCM0313 said:

Jets changed in 1998. I found this out in an odd way. I went to the HoF that year and bought a pocket pro of what I thought was a Namath throwback. Turned out to be their “new” helmet. Made me wish I’d bought the outgoing green version instead because I liked that one better. 

 

1997 was also the year the Dolphins changed. It wasn’t as big a change as the others though. 

 

 

You know how I found out about the Pistons’ and Timberwolves’ new logos in 1996? NBA-licensed pencils. Yes, really. 

The 1997 Dolphins change effectively killed what Dolphins stuff I sold.

I hate the new Buccaneers logo. Pewter was boring in 97, even more boring now.

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On 12/22/2019 at 9:19 PM, imawalkingcorpse said:

The 1997 Dolphins change effectively killed what Dolphins stuff I sold.

 

That surprises me.  I was one of the few fans of the tweak, but I didn't think it was significant enough to warrant a non-negligible decrease in sales.  I wonder if it was like that locally, or just outside of the local market.  They stuck with it pretty long, so I'm assuming the decrease was more outside of the Miami area.

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