Thanks to a certain silver, blue and red team, local sports clothing retailers are seeing a lot of green at the cash registers.

The New England Patriots’ surprising charge to the Super Bowl has sent legions of fans charging off to the nearest retailers stocking Patriots goods the last few weeks.

Keeping Patriots caps and jerseys in stock has been difficult for most local stores the past couple of weeks. Ordering specialty merchandise like AFC Championship hats and shirts has been nearly impossible.

“I can’t keep enough of it in the store. I’m all out of pennants, posters, bumper stickers, everything. Anything with `Patriots’ on it is going out the door,” said Joe Teolis, a sales clerk at Twin City Coin in the Airport Mall. “All I’ve got are sweatshirts, T-shirts, and hats, and that’s only because I ordered extra.”

“We’ve ordered AFC Championship hats and we’re hoping they come in this week,” said Nate Campbell, a clerk at Team Pride in the Bangor Mall.

Patriots merchandise isn’t the only hot seller. Teolis, a retired Bangor Hydro-Electric employee who hails from Providence, R.I., and others say Packers stuff is also selling at a brisk pace.

“The Patriots stuff has been sold out the last couple of weeks, but the Packers stuff has been hard to keep in stock all year. I even heard Starter sold out of all their Green Bay jackets,” said Athletic Attic clerk Ben Curtis.

“We’re totally sold out of Packers stuff. We had jerseys, jackets, and hats, and just about all of it is gone,” added the Old Town native.

Just about everything else is, too. Curtis said there was only one Patriots and one Packers cap left in the whole store Tuesday night.

Caps and players’ jerseys appear to be the most popular items. Olympia Sports saleswoman Heather Hurd said most of their hats were sold out.

“Everyone wants shadow hats and AFC Championship hats,” sa “Everyone wants shadow hats and AFC Championship hats,” said Hurd. “And we’re selling a lot of `Squeeze the Cheese’ and Super Bowl ticket T-shirts.”

Drew Bledsoe and Brett Favre jerseys are also at a premium, if you can find them.

“I’d say the jerseys are our most popular items. We ran out of Bledsoe jerseys a long time ago. We have some posters,” said Curtis, checking the supply. “Well, we have one left. Favre is totally sold out, too.”

Pats running back Curtis Martin is also popular. Both Olympia and Team Pride have a few of his jerseys along with some that have either Meggett, McGinest, or Glenn on the backs.

Jerseys and caps might be hot sellers at specialty shops, but coats have been the prime movers at other stores.

“We have a featured rack with all Patriots garments like shirts, hats, headbands,” said Linda Fairbanks of Houlton, an employee at the Houlton Wal-Mart, which is encouraging employees to dress up in Patriots garb Thursday through Sunday. “It’s been selling real well. Our Patriots winter coats were put on clearance $27 and we sold out of them. We still have some fleece jackets, though.”

Not everyone is capitalizing on the Patriots’ success. A few men from New Haven, Conn., have set up roadside stands on Wilson Street in Brewer and the Hogan Road in Bangor to sell AFC Championship and Super Bowl-theme T-shirts, sweatshirts, pennants, and buttons. But according to them, no one seems to have noticed.

“I think it’s because of the weather. It’s been real cold,” said Ken MacGinnis, who said he braves the sub-zero temperatures because “I’ve got a family to feed.”

His boss, John MacGinnis, said he was getting frustrated with the whole thing after doing it for the last couple of years.

“It’s hard to do. It costs millions of dollars. You have to get a tax number. You have to get all different kinds of licenses. You have to be bonded. It’s getting so it’s a big waste of time,” he said. “We probably won’t ever do this again.”

Although they’re open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. most days, they haven’t noticed a big surge in sales. They’re hoping that changes in the next few days.

“Business is terrible. They’ve all seen it, but no one is stopping,” said John MacGinnis, who added he’ll probably stick it out for at least until a couple days after the Super Bowl.

“You want to buy some stuff wholesale?” he asked.

The Patriots’ decision to change from their more traditional Pat Patriot logo and red, white, and blue uniforms to the more stylized flying or flaming head and current colors, although immensely unpopular early on, appears to have been accepted by fans.

“They like the new stuff better. There’s a lot more detail to it. Plus, there’s a lot more variety among the new stuff and it’s getting harder and harder to get the old logo,” said Teolis.

The sudden run on Patriots merchandise has caught many retailers by surprise.

“We’ve sold about 50 to 75 percent more of that than we sold last year. We’ve sold more in the last two weeks than we did during the Christmas season,” said Fairbanks. “In the past, we always had stuff left over. We still have tons of Celtics and Bruins stuff.”

“Usually it’s been the Dallas stuff that’s been the prime seller,” said Hurd. “With the Patriots going to the Super Bowl, sales have really picked up – ever since they beat Pittsburgh.”

“Cowboys stuff was pretty hot until they lost in the playoffs,” said Campbell.

Evidently athletic clothing trends boil down to one of life’s basic truths: Everybody loves a winner.