When the game finished at 8:45 p.m. Sunday, there were long lines of Who Dats lined up outside Academy Sports, Geaux for the Gold and the Who Dat Shop waiting to buy official NFL Saints Super Bowl Champion T-shirts, hats and anything else that had Saints’ markings.
Ronnie Dunaway, owner of the Who Dat Shop in Olde Towne was a bit punch-drunk Monday morning from lack of sleep. He said the store closed when the game started, and reopened after.
  
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He closed for the night, took delivery on more merchandise and reopened early Monday morning.
“Everything was sold out immediately,” said Dunaway.
Geaux for the Gold owner Melissa Richier said people started lining up in the parking lot even before the game was finished.
“They were chanting and high-fiving. It was amazing,” Richier said. Her husband Chris said the line extended to the Ruby Tuesday’s restaurant and beyond.
“By the time we closed at 1 a.m. we had sold about 2,000 shirts and 1,000 hats,” Chris Richier said.
That did not discourage Who Dats. By 8 a.m. Monday, another line had formed, and the fans waited patiently for the Geaux for the Gold doors to reopen at 10 a.m. At the head of the line were two Slidell expatriates, Sheila Clary and Teresa Chambers who live in Alabama and Tennessee respectively.
“We came back just for the game,” Clary said. “And now I have this long list of Saints stuff I have to buy before going back home.”
Another woman from Picayune, Miss., waited at Geaux for the Gold because Academy Sports was sold out of Saints gear.
Over at Academy, a long line of Saints fans snaked through the interior of the store as Academy workers waited for the next order of T-shirts and caps to arrive. The store had been open all night with a constant stream of people coming in to get Saints gear.
A Slidell resident, Beverly Vaultz was at the head of the long line inside Academy. She had been there since 6:30 a.m. Monday, and it was 10 a.m.
“They said they would have more stuff by 7,” Vaultz said. “I think they owe me.”
Soon, Academy employees rolled down the long line with grocery carts filled to the brim with Super Bowl Champion T-shirts. There was a collective sigh of relief as fans grabbed the shirts and rushed to the cash registers.
Though sports stores had to work hard to keep Saints fans happy, the hardest working people was the crew at Southern Blues Screen Printing on Front Street. They have the exclusive contract with Reebok and the NFL to print up the T-shirts. Co-owner Rob Higgins said he had not been asleep yet, and didn’t plan to sleep until 8 p.m. Monday. He said the shop had an original order of 6,000 shirts right after the game, and the number just kept getting higher all night and into Monday.
“And we don’t plan to stop for the rest of the week,” Higgins said as he and his brother, Ryan were helping to load a big truck with dozens of boxes of T-shirts.
Inside, printers Ken Bordelon and Raymond Wood were a blur of motion as they kept the screen-printing press filled with plain shirts to be emblazoned with the logo of Super Bowl Champions. Just as fast as the shirts were taken off the press, other workers, Wendy Burrell, and Gloria and James Brakel were folding the shirts, affixing official NFL tags and boxing them.
Local merchants were jubilant over the business, and they said they expected the rush to continue for the rest of the week.
“We are planning on two shipments a day all week,” Dunaway said. “And we are ordering up all sorts of other Super Bowl items like cups, towels, you name it and we’ll get it. So no need to panic, we will have it.”
Richier said her store will have Saints gear all week and beyond. “We can’t sell it fast enough,” she said.
Richier is happy for the economic boom, but to her, she is just amazed and happy at how the Saints’ Super Bowl win has brought people together in the community.
“People are hugging and crying, strangers are talking and laughing with each other. It is just such an amazing and wonderful thing,” Richier said.
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