Fantastic Boston’s World Series victory also a big win for businesses that sell Red Sox merchandise

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If they awarded frequent driver miles like they do frequent flier miles, Bill Swift would be on cloud nine.

The manager of Bangor’s Olympia Sports store will be living on coffee this week as he will drive from Bangor to the company’s distribution center in Westbrook at least twice a day for three days.

This will be his third week at it.

The merchandise he has been transporting has been Boston Red Sox paraphernalia.

The Red Sox clinched their second World Series title in four years Sunday night with a 4-3 victory over Colorado that completed a four-game sweep.

First the American League East Division champions memorabilia sold, then the American League titlists garb moved, and now the World Series champions paraphernalia is selling.

“We want to get it into the customers’ hands as soon as possible,” said Swift, who is elated with the success of the Red Sox and the effect it will have on his business.

“The impact on our sales is huge. This changes [business] greatly. You hope for things like this every year,” said Swift. “The stars seemed to be aligned between the Red Sox and the [8-0] New England Patriots and, possibly, with the [Boston] Celtics and Bruins.

“It’s a great business to be in [these days],” added Swift. “It’s going to be a busy holiday season.”

The day after Thanksgiving is considered the biggest shopping day of the year, “but we’re having it a month earlier,” said Swift.

He explained the first set of merchandise on the market is the “locker room product,” the World Series championship hats and T-shirts that the Red Sox wore Sunday night during their postgame celebration.

Those items represent a very small fraction of the products that will eventually hit the market.

“They put logos on anything these days. People love it,” Swift said.

Jon Cirrinone of Bangor, the assistant manager at BC Sports in Bangor, said their store showed a 79 percent gain over the past week, and “this coming week should be huge, especially when we get the hats and everything and start getting the Red Sox novelties like the DVD. Once that gets put out, it’s going to be huge.”

Cirrinone added the Red Sox have put their customers in great moods.

“Everybody comes in with a smile. Everybody is excited to buy the next Red Sox novelty. It’s great for business and great to see everybody excited,” said Cirrinone. “Every morning, we have somebody waiting at the gate [before they open] to see if we have the next hats or the next T-shirts.”

Heather Holmes, the assistant manager at Lids in Bangor, a store which features team hats, said her company believed getting the Red Sox merchandise on the market as soon as possible was so important it prompted them to “send our manager to New Hampshire to pick up the hats.”

“It has definitely been a positive,” said Brian Hall, a sales associate at the Finish Line sporting goods store in Bangor.

Shoppers and Red Sox fans at the Bangor Mall were reveling in the team’s World Series championship and had a variety of opinions on the reasons for their success.

“Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury, they wouldn’t have won it without them. No way,” said Andi Denis of Bucksport.

“The fan support had a lot to do with it, too,” said Newport’s Crystle Richards. “And they had quite a few [fans] out there [in Denver] last night. They said they thought around 20,000. You can’t help but love them. They had great chemistry when they were together. They had fun on the field. They worked together as a team. They’re just a great team.”

Bangor’s Ryan Turcotte said the accomplishment was “amazing.

“They had a young team. The young pitching, the rookies, that was the key ingredient,” said Turcotte.

Turcotte said the championship wasn’t as exciting as 2004 “after waiting all those years for it. But it’s just as sweet. It’s showing that the Red Sox are the new Yankees.”

He was referring to the Red Sox having won two World Series in four years.

“It shows it’s an organization that is going to continue winning … not losing for another 86 years,” Turcotte said. “It looks like a lot of players are coming back next year so they’ll have a good shot at it, and the Yankees aren’t looking too good.”

He also said the decision knuckleball pitcher Tim Wakefield and the Red Sox made to keep Wakefield off the World Series roster because of his back and shoulder problems epitomized their unselfish attitude and team-comes-first philosophy.

That decision gave left-handed pitcher Jon Lester a chance to start, and he came through with a superb outing Sunday night.

Steve Craig of Saint John, New Brunswick, said World Series MVP Mike Lowell was the primary reason the Red Sox triumphed.

“He was the number five guy in the lineup, and he had 120 RBIs. That’s incredible. What more can you say?” Craig said. “J.D. Drew was a big disappointment [during the regular season], but he picked it up in the playoffs, which was nice. [David] Ortiz and Manny [Ramirez] didn’t have to do a whole lot because the other guys picked it up.”

He said their success makes them a team players want to play for, which bodes well for the future.

Phil Carew of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, also feels the future is bright.

“I think you’ll see a lot more [titles] coming down the line,” said Carew, who believes their rally from a 3-1 series deficit to beat Cleveland in the American League Championship Series gave them the morale and lift they needed to sweep Colorado.

Levant’s Ed Lord said pitching was the primary ingredient behind their success.

“That’s why the Yankees didn’t win this season … because of pitching. The Red Sox had the whole package …. except for [Eric] Gagne, of course,” said Lord.

Lord said there was a different feeling from 2004.

“Like [manager Terry] Francona said last night … The curse was off in 2004, and with the money they’re spending, you expect them to be in the playoffs. You expect them to have a good shot at winning,” Lord said.

Lord believes it will be important for the Red Sox to sign third baseman Lowell if they hope to make another World Series run next year.

Orono’s Stan Watts said the hitters who didn’t come through in the first series against the Angels “came through in the next two series. They really got it done. The pitchers were sensational: [Jonathan] Papelbon and [Josh] Beckett and all those guys.”

He thought this year’s team was “more of a powerhouse” than the 2004 team.

Adam Tweedie of Bucksport said the two championships in four years “proves they’ve got a good all-around organization,” and John Harvey, also of Bucksport, added “they all played well together. It was more than just one guy sticking out.”