Switching Gear Giants fans wait for Super Bowl apparel to arrive while Patriots merchandise gets marked down after surprise loss

New York Giants fans may be celebrating, but on Monday they weren’t yet able to advertise their team’s win.

Bangor-area Giants fans had to wait a day to purchase commemorative Super Bowl championship gear as apparel manufacturers distributed merchandise first to New York, then to other states.

“Hats, T-shirts and long-sleeve shirts should arrive tomorrow,” Bill Swift, manager of Olympia Sports in the Bangor Mall, said Monday. Swift was marking down the prices on items promoting the New England Patriots’ American Football Conference victory by as much as two-thirds Monday.

The Patriots’ narrow and tough loss Sunday seemed to cast a pall over the mall, as sporting goods stores said business was relatively quiet Monday. Swift, a Giants fan, said he was looking forward to the arrival of merchandise on Tuesday.

Westbrook-based Olympia Sports chooses not to purchase items declaring a winning team before the Super Bowl is played, even though those items probably would arrive in time for Monday shoppers.

“If we did that, we’d be stuck with a lot of T-shirts,” Swift said.

He said an employee would drive Giants merchandise from Massachusetts to Bangor on Tuesday. Olympia Sports stores in New York will carry a larger assortment of items, including sweat shirts, decals and pennants, all of which may be ordered from the Bangor store, Swift said.

Elsewhere in the Bangor Mall on Monday, Dick’s Sporting Goods and BC Sports Collectibles were also without Super Bowl XLII memorabilia. A clerk at Dick’s said he was not sure any Giants gear would arrive, but BC Sports said it would offer some on Wednesday.

BDN photographer Kevin Bennett contributed to this report.

aravana@bangordailynews.net

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