As Giants Head to Super Bowl XLVI, Business is in the Blue

A Park Sloper and Giants fan walked out of on Flatbush at 3:30 p.m. with the last G-men jersey in stock, buying the gear from the window display.

Mark Anthony, 50, smiled as he held up Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz’s jersey he just bought for $79.84. 

“The New York Giants are going all the way. I know Cruz and Manning are going to win it. I know that the G-men are going to win 21 to 10,” Anthony said. “You can bet your house that the Giants are going to win, you can bet all your money and win it all.” 

Another sure bet this season is selling New York Giants merchandise at Park Slope local businesses.

At Modell’s, across the street from the soon-to-be-open Barclays Center, Giants gear is flying off the racks, according to Jessica Pagan, the store’s assistant manager.

“Championship games are the best time of the year for business. It is a mini-Christmas, if not better,” Pagan said on Monday, explaining that they have been opening at 7 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. to try accommodate the influx in customers. “Thousands of customers have been coming in to buy Giants merchandise. Customers are lining up to get their gear." 

Pagan said that by 3:30 p.m. on Monday they totally sold out of their 30 Giants jerseys until the next shipment comes in Tuesday at 5 a.m. NFC Conference Champion T-shirts were also selling off the racks, with their stock dwindling quickly. 

Many customers were told to come back after a new shipment. Pagan said that they are getting new deliveries everyday. If the Giants win Super Bowl 46, against the New England Patriots, they will get a 5 a.m. shipment of Super Bowl champion jerseys.  

Right now they are selling 2011-12 season NFC Conference Champions merchandize from stickers, to shot glasses, to T-shirts, hats, sweatshirts and boxers. They are also selling beer coolers, folding chairs, and canopy tents all with the Giants logo.

Jose Torres, a Bed-Stuy resident, came to Modell’s, and spent $150 on a Giants hat, bumper sticker and a T-shirt. He is coming back tomorrow to get another T-shirt, for they were sold out of his size.

“It’s important to show your colors, this only happens once in a blue,” Torres said. “They beat the Patriots in 2008 and look, now its 2012 and they’re back. Giants all the way baby, it’ll be a close game, but they are coming out on top.”

, a T-shirt store on Seventh Avenue, is keeping it simple with generic Giants gear: fleece snow hats, baseball cap-style hats and foam footballs to get ready for the big game in Indianapolis.

Carl Manco, the owner of the 24-year-old store, said he sold 48 hats, 18 snow hats and 24 footballs this past weekend and is getting a shipment of close to 200 Giants merchandise this week. 

“In New York it will be huge for business, not just licensed products, but grocery stores, liquor stores and restaurants will be positively affected by the Giants being in the Super Bowl.”

A Big Blue fan walking on Seventh Avenue while wearing a Giants snow hat from the 2008 Super Bowl when they beat the Patriots, said his team is going all the way.

“They’ll definitely win. I have been following the Giants since 1959, before the Patriots even existed,” said Michael Bousquet, a Park Slope resident. "New York will win all around."