Richmond and retailers left cheering
Richard Willingham
December 18, 2008
THE arrival of Ben Cousins at Punt Road has not only boosted the Tigers' onfield aspirations, it has sent memberships soaring and brought Christmas cheer to football retailers in two states.
A sudden surge in membership inquiries after Cousins' recruitment on Tuesday crashed Richmond's computer system.
Club officials said about 1500 memberships had been sold since 10am on Tuesday.
The membership surge is not a Melbourne-only phenomenon. Across the Nullarbor, stores in Perth reported that many West Coast members, and even some Dockers fans, had bought Richmond memberships in the wake of Cousins' move. This was confirmed by Richmond.
The manager of the Carousel AFL store in Perth, Candice Burgess, said most customers over the past two days had been buying Richmond apparel — something she had not seen before in the two-team city.
Stores across Melbourne also had a surge in sales of Richmond merchandise.
The manager of the 4 the Game store at DFO Docklands, Adam MacDonald, said business had been flat out since the first Tiger fan walked into his shop an hour after Tuesday's pre-season draft.
"Today has been massive. All my Christmases have come at once," he said.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/richmond-and-retailers-left-cheering-20081217-70t2.html