Fans flock for Patriots merchandise

WARWICK, R.I. – Nick Izzi arrived at a large sporting goods store at 7 a.m. Monday, on the hunt for the prized baseball caps worn by New England Patriots players after the team’s 32-29 Super Bowl victory over Carolina.

The 20-year-old looked at the crowd of about 150 people waiting outside and came up with a better idea: Why fight the crowds in the cold when he could wait at a smaller store where it was warm?

Chalk one up for Nick, who spent three hours with a cup of coffee inside Warwick Mall and had no problem scoring a dozen of the collectible caps.

The hats were a hot commodity as crowds of people jammed stores throughout New England the day after the Patriots’ second Super Bowl title in three years, snapping up the champions’ merchandise almost as quickly as the goods hit the shelves.

“I just bought the hats,” Izzi said, outfitted in a Patriots jersey with linebacker Tedy Bruschi’s No. 54 and wearing one of the $24.99 caps, with the “locker room” hologram still stuck on the bill. “I couldn’t afford anything more.”

In Maine, at Olympia Sports in the Bangor Mall, Patriots Super Bowl Championship hats sold out in just eight minutes, according to assistant manager Alicia LaGrange. T-shirts were another popular item, but at 5 p.m. Monday there were still a few in select sizes available.

LaGrange said store manager Bill Swift drove to Portland Monday night, hoping to bring back a shipment of hats. Another shipment containing the most popular items was expected by noon today, she said.

Also at the Bangor Mall, Foot Locker did not have anything for Monday’s rush, but was expecting to have some items by 5 p.m. today. Assistant manager Mike Brimecobe said the store would be selling T-shirts and possibly some hats.

“At this point we will be lucky to have hats in,” Brimecobe admitted. “Foot Locker in Portland was sold out in about an hour.”

At a Dick’s store in West Springfield, Mass., customers began lining up for Patriots merchandise before daybreak.

A scrum of about 100 people mobbed the store when it opened at 5:30 a.m. Employees handed each customer a ticket, good for two of the locker room hats.

Rick Hooper, an environmental police officer from Granby, Mass., was one of the first through the door. With one hat on his head and another headed for his mantle, the 38-year-old was waiting with other die-hard fans for more hats to arrive.

“I’ve had such a blast just standing here all morning talking to people about last night’s game,” he said. “It’s just amazing.”

At Mirror Image in Pawtucket, owner Rick Roth and his 35 employees watched the Super Bowl on a small television in the company’s printing room, anxiously waiting to see whether the Patriots would win and the presses would start stamping out Super Bowl T-shirts.

Almost immediately after Adam Vinatieri’s 41-yard game-winning field goal, “we went straight to the presses and started printing,” a weary Roth said. “I think a shirt went down the chute immediately after the game.”

Those shirts, and other items such as sweat shirts, sold briskly as New Englanders vied with each other to be the first to drape themselves in the team’s glory.

“It’s exactly the same as it was after the AFC Championship game,” said Rich Rhames, a manager at the Dick’s Sporting Goods in South Portland, Maine. “Everybody wants to show their support.”

For some like Scott Jasparro, of Fall River, Mass., it was strictly about image. The 32-year-old needed to find a locker room cap on this day, and badly.

“You want to go to the parade [in Boston on Tuesday] with it on,” he said.

A manager at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Warwick said the store sold out of the more than 1,000 locker room caps by 10 a.m. The manager kept telling customers streaming through the door around noontime that another shipment was expected later that day. Many of them didn’t even bother to look at anything else, walking out of the store with disappointed looks.

Inside, six long tables were empty, save for the silver Patriots logo and Super Bowl balloons tied to them. The only items remaining on four other tables were children’s and adult locker room Super Bowl T-shirts for $15.99 and $22, respectively. Apparel celebrating the team’s conference championship two weeks ago already had been marked down as much as 58 percent.

Jasparro settled for the white Super Bowl T-shirt – at least for now. His friend, Armando Gloria of Cumberland, also had gotten that T-shirt and a gray AFC Championship tee.

“That one’s for my girlfriend,” said the 28-year-old Gloria, pointing at the gray shirt.

“I’m keeping the Super Bowl shirt for myself.”

Rachel Puopolo of the Bangor Daily News contributed to this report.