Merchandise Pavilion: Open Hopes to See Sales Take Off

BY MATTHEW MORIARTY: Staff Writer, The Pilot

Just how big is the merchandise tent for the 2005 U.S. Open in Pinehurst?

“Tent” isn’t the right word. At 40,000 square feet, it’s more than half the size of the Parthenon. It sits on the 17th fairway of Course No. 1, near the main entrance for the Open on Morganton Road.

People entering the merchandise pavilion during the week of the Open won’t be looking for spiritual guidance. They’ll be looking for, mostly, hats.

Pinehurst expects vendors to sell more than 100,000 hats during the Open and the few days before it, said Stephen Cryan, director of retail for the resort.

Hats are expected to be the top seller, but Pinehurst also expects to sell more than 55,000 golf shirts, 33,000 ball markers and 25,000 T-shirts.

People will also be able to purchase everything from beer steins to bobble-heads.

“We try to provide all types of tasteful merchandise,” Cryan said.

Construction on the exterior of the tent has been completed. Work is continuing on the interior, and workers will start moving in the merchandise next week.

Within the 40,000-square-foot tent, there will be 38,000 square feet of retail space. Behind the scenes, there will be 20 Federal Express trailers for storage. Each of the trailers is 53 feet long.

In all, the vendors will have a stock of about 500,000 items to sell. The items are arriving by the truckload during the next 30 days.

Speaking of vendors, there are going to be 60 of them working during the Open. They’ll bring 300 of their own staff members, and be running 54 cash registers and drawing on more than 11,000 volunteers.

Pinehurst resident Lee Airs was a volunteer in the merchandise pavilion during the 1999 Open. It left him less than enthusiastic about volunteering his time this year.

“The experience told me that at this Open I would not want to volunteer,” he said.

Airs witnessed an endless flow of people and credit cards. He was one of 40 people working a register. He said he would work for six hours straight without seeing a break in the action.

“I’d take a cigarette break and then come back and ring up another $50,000,” he said.

Airs failed to adequately explain to customers why an envelope emblazoned with the U.S. Open logo was worth $11, even after mentioning that it already had a stamp on it.

“People would say, ‘How much is this envelope?’” he said. “I would say, ‘$11,’ and they would drop it.”

The merchandise pavilion will sell only U.S. Open-branded products. If people want to buy Pinehurst merchandise, they can go to the golf shop in the clubhouse. It will be in operation for the entire week of the Open.

Nevertheless, the vast majority of the merchandise sold during the championship will be U.S. Open items.

“Ninety-five percent of it will be U.S. Open products,” Cryan said.

It’s easy to get lost in the numbers. Cryan can rattle them off while hardly pausing to take a breath. There is one number that surpasses all others in terms of impact.

Back when Pinehurst set the standard for U.S. Opens in 1999, it brought in about $6 million from merchandise sales. This year, Pinehurst plans to exceed that goal, Cryan said.

“We hope to surpass that,” he said.

The merchandise pavilion opens to the public on June 9, the Thursday before the Open begins. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 9 and 10. On the Saturday and Sunday of the championship, the pavilion opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m.

During the week of the Open, the pavilion will be open for business as soon as spectators arrive and well after they’ve left for the day. It opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 8 p.m. daily.

It may not be the Parthenon, but it will feature pilgrims seeking their own forms of offerings. On Tuesday during the week of the Open, several of the golfers have agreed to sit in and sign autographs.

Chris DeMarco, defending champion Retief Goosen, Davis Love III, Luke Donald and David Toms have all confirmed that they’ll be available to sign memorabilia.

Said Cryan: “We were able to do this through our relationship with our vendor partners.”