Market Basket: Cashing in on Notre Dame

Within hours of Notre Dame beating Southern California to clinch a spot in the BCS National Championship, Steve Sodell sprang into action.

He started making calls to inquire about available retail space for his temporary stores in the South Bend-Mishawaka market.

He initiated planning for the kinds of officially licensed Notre Dame merchandise he would stock, from hats to hoodies, mini helmets to glassware, keychains to embroidered sweatshirts.

Sodell, the president of Arizona-based Sports Fan Marketing, had someone on a plane headed to South Bend, in fact, the Monday morning after Thanksgiving so plans for his short-term brick-and-mortar stores could be put into motion.

And quickly.

Sodell likes to be first to a market with his fan stores after the championship teams become official. The window of opportunity to capture sales is a matter of weeks, after all.

Temporary stores opened at University Park Mall in Mishawaka and the Kroger-anchored Broadmoor Plaza in South Bend earlier this week and new stock continues to be shipped.

He will open another eight temporary stores that will carry Notre Dame merchandise in Miami, where the game is slated for Jan. 7.

Sodell moves his fan stores event to event, including the Super Bowl, World Series, Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Stanley Cup Finals, NCAA Finals and NBA Finals.

Whether he goes to the cities where the teams are from (like South Bend), or only to the game's host city (Miami) all depends on the fan base and sales.

Sodell already anticipates this BCS game to rank among the best in sales for his company in years, with the luck of the Irish.

"We anticipate this to be one of our top two BCS championship games ever, because of the demand. Notre Dame fans are everywhere in the USA and abroad," Sodell says.

Other area retailers say they are already seeing spikes in sales as well.

Area Meijer stores have received special Notre Dame merchandise, too, and it has been selling so well that more is anticipated to be shipped this weekend.

"The championship sweatshirts and T-shirts have been the best sellers," says Rick Zeeff, store director of the Mishawaka Meijer on Bremen Highway.

But all Notre Dame products are selling heavily.

"Sales are higher than normal even for this time of year," Zeeff says. "We are receiving regular Notre Dame product and it's all selling better than it usually does for Christmas."

He expects sales to remain steady well into January.

Notre Dame merchandise sales are up 204 percent for the season on Fanatics.com, a leading online fan shop.

Notre Dame and Alabama rank No. 1 and No. 2 respectively on the Fanatics site for the season, for the month of November, and through last week, a company spokesman reported Thursday.

Sodell says he has no plans to bring opponent Crimson Tide merchandise into his South Bend shops.

"Nope, we are staying away from Alabama product in South Bend," Sodell says. "Last year we had Alabama product in our LSU stores and the derogatory comments and abuse was not worth it."

"But we plan on staying open through January with a Notre Dame championship win," he adds. His local stores will have National Championship hats and T-shirts available at 9 a.m. the morning after the game.

Hundreds of other national championship items would ship the week following the game if the Irish win.

And if they lose?

"We would sell through everything the following week," he says, "and fans would see a nice discount on a piece of history."

Cold Stone is closed but could reopen

Cold Stone Creamery has closed its doors at 620 W. Edison Road, Mishawaka.

But the owner of St. Andrew's Plaza is confident the ice cream shop could reopen, based on his conversation with Cold Stone corporate.

Company officials indicated that they are "working with an interested franchisee to re-tenant the space," says Don Schefmeyer, plaza owner. "They might send a team out from corporate to run it in the meantime."

Customers who have stopped by Cold Stone in the past week have been met by this note: "Thank you for eight years of business. ... Unfortunately, due to economic conditions, we have been forced to close."

Cold Stone previously closed locations in South Bend and Goshen.

"This has been an unusually long recessionary period, and the more competition there is the smaller the pool of customers," Schefmeyer says in reference to the frozen yogurt shops that have been expanding in the market.

"Tim will tell, but right now I'm optimistic about a quick reopening," he says.

Heidi Prescott's column runs on Fridays and Sundays. When she's not shopping, contact her at hprescott@sbtinfo.com or 574-235-6070. You can also talk retail at Facebook.com/thebasket and at Twitter.com/marketbasket.