Patrons at the Sports Spot at Hamilton Place mall walk past Super Bowl XLVI shirts Friday afternoon. The Sports Stop at Hamilton Place mall moved its Patriots, Giants and Super Bowl merchandise to the front of the shop. Total spending for the weekend is expected to reach $11 billion.Doug Grindstaff plans to buy two shirts and chip in for a pre-Super Bowl party before heading to a restaurant for food, drinks and Sunday’s big game.
And he doesn’t even really like sports.
Grindstaff is one of 173 million people expected to watch Sunday’s matchup, the largest number since the National Retail Federation began collecting data eight years ago. The average viewer is projected to spend nearly $64, about as much as Grindstaff, on Super Bowl-related purchases. Collectively, such purchases are injecting $11 billion into food, clothing and furniture stores across the nation.
“It’s a reason to throw a party,” the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman said as he browsed NFL T-shirts at Sports Stop on Friday. “It should be a good time.”
It’s certainly a good time for retailers. Don Gilman, manager of the Hamilton Place mall store where Grindstaff was shopping, has sold out of New York Giants jerseys and only had a few New England Patriots ones left Friday.