Poinsettia Bowl Gear Now Available
The SDSU Bookstore and the Aztec Store have the latest Aztec bowl merchandise in stock.
In a sight not seen on campus in 12 years, Friday afternoon a truck delivered a load of Aztec bowl gear to the campus bookstore. A dozen bookstore staff members sprang into action in the store’s receiving area unpacking boxes of T-shirts and sweatshirts bearing the SDSU and Poinsettia Bowl logos and tagging them for sale.
On display
Upstairs, staff members cleared display space near the checkout counters preparing for stacks of folded and hanging merchandise. Overseeing the setup was Jayne LaPorta, director of merchandise planning for Aztec Shops.
“Immediately after it was announced at the basketball game Wednesday night that we were going to the Poinsettia Bowl, we called our vendors and placed our orders first thing in the morning Thursday,” she said. “We wanted to get this stuff here as soon as possible.
“Our plan is to have product available in the main bookstore on campus, our store in Fashion Valley and we are bringing some items to all home basketball games up until the Poinsettia Bowl and, of course, the web. I'm working on gift merchandise as well and hope to have that assortment finalized in a day or so.”
Moving merchandise
How did LaPorta know what items to stock?
“We look at history and see what sells well,” she explained.
But the Aztecs have no recent history of bowl appearances, so how are specialty items and inventory determined?
LaPorta said last year's men's and women's Mountain West Conference basketball championships and NCAA tournament appearances helped provide a gauge for sales of commemorative merchandise.
“Then we work with the vendor in terms of what’s selling well — normally T-shirts, long-sleeve T-shirts, hoodies and zip hoods are the top-selling items,” LaPorta said. “We worked with other vendors, too, trying to get something specifically for women, so we have women’s T-shirts coming. Hats always sell well and polos, so we tried to get an assortment based on top-selling silhouettes.”
Possible sell-outs
What happens if popular bowl apparel sells out?
“I anticipate we will reorder a lot. We want everyone to know this gear is available and we will continue to reorder up until the game,” LaPorta said. “As things continue to sell, we’ll add more items. The gift items — license plate frames, pennants, tumblers, mugs, things like that — we’ll probably add next week.”
And if the Aztecs defeat Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl, LaPorta says her staff will have SDSU fans covered.
“If we win the bowl,” she said, “we will be doing a winner’s shirt with the score of both teams.”
