Whatever happens, retailers say the Jan. 12 Packers home playoff game is already a boost for business

ASHWAUBENON - A Green Bay Packers home playoff game is like a second Christmas for the Green Bay Jersey Store and other businesses near Lambeau Field.  

Mike Walters, who manages the Jersey Store at 1931 Holmgren Way, said the Christmas shopping season ended the year on a strong note, but a home playoff game in January — maybe two — provides a bonus sales boost that stores cannot plan for ahead of time. 

"Any time you get a home game in the playoffs, it's a huge boon. It's tremendously helpful to start out the year on this kind of note," Walters said.

It's a boost the region went without for the last two years as the Packers failed to make the playoffs in 2017 and 2018. That changes on Jan. 12, when the Packers will host one of the winners of this weekend's wildcard playoff games. 

Most retailers continue to stock the same Packers-branded gear they've had all year, but a few new options are available in stores like the Packers Pro Shop and Dick's Sporting Goods.

The division championship shirts and hats proclaim "The North is Not Enough," while shirts and hats marking this season's playoff run declare "The Pack is Back." 

At the Packers Pro Shop, online and in-store sales have outpaced levels seen in 2016, the last time the team made the playoffs, manager Derek Dimmer said.

He said the excitement of a playoff run and the addition of stars like Preston Smith, Za'Darius Smith and Adrian Amos have helped overcome any "general perception of mediocrity" on the part of some fans. 

"We've heard nothing but positive things," Dimmer said. "I think it's because we have a home playoff game, which we haven't had in awhile, and the fresh and exciting players on the team that were not here in past years."

Kyle Flanagan, Dick's Sporting Goods community marketing manager for Wisconsin, said the chain has a wide variety of Packers merchandise, including NFC North Division Champions gear, at its store on Pilgrim Way in Ashwaubenon and at other Dick's locations in the state.

"Packer football is a way of life for people in Green Bay and throughout Wisconsin," Flanagan said in a statement.

At the Jersey Store, Walters said he'd normally be cutting staff after the holidays. Instead, college students still in town for their break will get a few extra hours in the coming week.

On Jan. 12, when the Packers actually play, he will quadruple staff in the store, which is about a half-mile east of Lambeau Field.

While fans are shopping for gear ahead of the divisional round matchup, Walters is working the "hot market" to assure he has a stock of Packers-branded merchandise if the team wins the NFC championship and moves on to the Super Bowl.

Those products have to be ordered weeks ahead of time so companies can produce team-specific gear that can ship to retailers as soon as the result is known.  

"We're hopeful we'll be getting in conference champs and Super Bowl gear," Walters said. "As they get further along (in the playoffs), the amount of that product proliferates. Right now, our orders are mainly for apparel and headwear."

Dimmer said an NFC Championship would mean a whole new line of apparel to stock in the hours after the game is played. He said those items would be available online within minutes after a Packers victory and in the store by the next day. 

Walters said sales since the Packers secured a playoff berth have reminded him of the team's last run to the Super Bowl, when virtually anything with a Packers logo would sell.

"We were selling hundreds and hundreds of shirts out of our normal inventory. It didn't have to say 'champions,' it just had to have the G logo on it," he said.

Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @GBstreetwise.