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Mid-Michigan has Detroit Lions fever after the team’s big win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night.
BIRCH RUN, Mich. (WJRT) – Mid-Michigan has Detroit Lions fever and local sports retail stores are having trouble keeping Lions gear on the shelf.
“I mean that’s literally the driving force in my business. Like 90% of our business right now is Lions. Everybody is obsessed,” said Lucas Lanctot.
Lanctot is the Store Lead at Fan Outfitters in Birch Run. He says they made over $200,000 just on Lions gear in the month of December. That includes more than $10,000 in sales on one specific Lions sweatshirt alone.
“The game days you can see our traffic literally vary based on the game,” he said. “If the game starts, we die, like there’s nobody here left on Sunday. Yesterday, after about 4 o’clock, we didn’t really have any more customers because everyone was either getting ready for the game or already in Detroit.”
Enthusiasm for the team stretches beyond the state of Michigan. Defensive End Aidan Hutchinson and Wide Receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown made the NFL Player Association’s Top 10 for player sales midway through the season.
But neither of those two standouts, nor veteran Quarterback Jared Goff, is the most popular in Birch Run.
“[Running Back Jahmyr] Gibbs is by far the most popular. Especially kids, like the kids are in love with Sonic,” Lanctot said.
Lanctot says his excitement goes beyond just the rise in business. He’s hoping to get down to Ford Field for a playoff game, but like many of us, even if he doesn’t make it, he’ll cheer for the team the whole way.
“They’re desperate for a winner in Detroit and now we have a successful team in back to back seasons on top of it. The first time being the number one seed ever in our team’s history so, it is a lot different than what we’ve been used to over the years,” he said.
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