FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas’ rivalries aren’t limited to the football field.
They’re carried out on the shelves and racks of Wal-Mart, too, where Arkansas rose from No. 4 to No. 2 this year in the amount of NCAA licensed team memorabilia sold by the world’s largest retailer. This year, Alabama maintains its No. 1 spot. Ohio State, Oklahoma and Nebraska round out the top five, respectively. Wal-Mart offers team merchandise for more than 150 colleges in 1,350 stores nationwide.
“They will continue to ebb and flow throughout the season, but the Razorbacks are already in a better position,” said Wal-Mart spokesman Sarah McKinney, as if she’s commenting from the analysts’ desk for ESPN’s Sportscenter.
In Fayetteville, the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Martin Luther King Boulevard, west of campus, is considered the “university store,” said assistant manager Mike Beeler. The store is off the same exit, though a short drive in the opposite direction, where fans get off Interstate 540 for the University of Arkansas and Razorback Stadium. Even the players shop there, Beeler said.
“This is their store,” he said.
By the end of this weekend, some 20 percent of that store is expected to be filled with Razorbacks paraphernalia ranging from tailgating needs and the game staples - T-shirts, caps and face tattoos and beverage koozies - to newer items such as a three-piece Razorback bath mat set, team-inspired garden gnomes and hog-shaped Jell-O molds made for bite-size consumption. T-shirts in neon colors are also expected to sell well.
“They’re always looking for something new,” McKinney said of Hog fans. The Razorbacks’ season-opener with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is Saturday.
Pam McPherson, a 20-year employee at the “university” Wal-Mart store and zone manager for all things Razorback, said this season’s best-seller is an Army green T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan: “How ’Bout Them Hogs, Jack?” It infuses a bit of humor with part of a frequent quote from the popular A&E television show Duck Dynasty, also a blockbuster moneymaker for Wal-Mart. As of Thursday, the shirt was sold out of every Northwest Arkansas Wal-Mart store, said another spokesman for the company.
Other items include Razorback packing tape, grilling spatulas and other cookware/ home wares, silk throws and bed sets, shot glasses, sunglasses and tumblers. The store is expected to sell thousands of the ever-popular rubber pig snouts at $1.77 each. The basic Razorback T-shirt, usually about $12, is offered now at $8.47.
It’s by far the largest selection of Razorback memorabilia ever offered by the retailer, McKinney said. However, she would not give revenue figures for sales of Hog paraphernalia.
Earlier this month, the Collegiate Licensing Co., LLC released its annual list of top-selling institutions and manufacturers. The retail marketplace for college licensed merchandise in 2012 was estimated at $4.62 billion. Royalties generated from the sale of these items go back to the institutions.
For the eighth consecutive year, the University of Texas at Austin ranked No. 1 in the company’s fiscal year-end rankings. Alabama ranked No. 2 and Arkansas edged into the Top 10 for the first time.
The bottom line: Anything with a Razorback on it makes money for Wal-Mart.
Business, Pages 83 on 08/25/2013