|
Stiles merchandise on fire
By Claudette Riley, Springfield News-Leader, 6/29/01 Local Wal-Mart stores were right about Jackie Stiles’ merchandise — it’s golden. A month after ordering 10,000 official T-shirts — the Women’s National Basketball Association’s largest-ever, single-player retail deal — the stores came back for 3,500 more. Underestimating the former Southwest Missouri State Lady Bear star’s popularity among adults, more than half of the initial order was child-size shirts. The new shipment was all adult-size T-shirts, with the addition of XXL and XXXL sizes. “We sold completely out of the XL adult shirts after the end of the first week or start of the second week,” said Dan Buffenbarger, assistant manager of the Wal-Mart Supercenter at 3335 W. Sunshine St. “We haven’t had any adult sizes and we’ve had to wait this long to get them produced.” The new shirts will be available at the five Springfield Wal-Marts and the company’s store in Nixa. Many of the stores also offer WNBA basketballs and Stiles collectible plaques. John Ruder, manager of the Wal-Mart on West Sunshine Street, launched the idea and worked to develop the licensed apparel. “We didn’t think 10,000 shirts was too much for Jackie,” Ruder said. “This is where she’s from and we want her to be a success.” Though Stiles is more than 1,000 miles from the Ozarks, merchandise from the rookie professional for the league’s Portland Fire is still in high demand. “Now that she’s starting to score all the points (professionally), people are joining the bandwagon,” said Brian Reed, assistant manager of the Wal-Mart Supercenter on West Sunshine Street. “It would be nice if we could get Jackie in here to sign some shirts.” Stiles is the NCAA women’s career leading scorer with 3,393 points during her time as a Lady Bear. As a high school player in Kansas, she set that state’s career scoring mark. With the 10,000-shirt order from Wal-Mart she became the WNBA’s product champ. The local Wal-Marts are the only supplier of official Jackie Stiles WNBA merchandise in the Midwest, Ruder said. But getting the T-shirts wasn’t easy. Originally, the store wanted replica jerseys but the WNBA said no. Wal-Mart didn’t have a standing WNBA supplier, so Ruder called the WNBA directly. Together, they developed a deal and then worked through the Wal-Mart headquarters to finalize details. The initial order was three times the previous single-product, single-player retail deal. The white T-shirts are emblazoned in red and white lettering with Jackie Stiles’ name, jersey number and team logo. “We didn’t have a vendor. The WNBA self-sources their merchandise,” Ruder said. “I think Jackie Stiles is a new phenomenon to the WNBA. They’ve had great players but they’ve never had anyone with such a loyal following.” The shirts are made by National Basketball Association Products International, the in-house manufacturer for the league. TO THE TOP |