The 2024 NFL season officially kicks off tonight, and local sports apparel stores are happy about what that means for business.
Kansas City and Baltimore start things off beginning at 8:20 p.m. Thursday, there's a Friday night game where the Green Bay Packers will take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil, and then the regular slate takes place on Sunday.
Bob Reaume, owner of Bob Reaume Sports on Tecumseh Road East, says sales ahead of the season have started a little bit but he's expecting it to pick up into the weekend.
Reaume says t-shirts are always a strong seller because they're affordable, and they're expecting to receive some more jerseys later this week as well.
"We carry a lot of different teams after the Lions. I mean we have to keep their whole division around: Minnesota, Chicago and Green Bay. Pittsburgh is always strong with us, so are the Ravens, Kansas City does pretty decent along with the Rams and Chargers. We have to carry about 16 to 17 different teams of NFL product," he said.
He says so far they're happy with the new looks for 2024 gear.
"Hat wise I mean the stuff you're going to see on the feel, and we got a bunch of others. Then we had some custom hats made for us by New Era that won't appear anywhere else. You had to buy a bit of quantity of them but it wasn't overwhelming. We've got two or three hats that you won't find anywhere else, they're not even on Detroit's website."
Reaume says they've moved to a new location that people should be aware of.
"We're down down the road, 5400 Tecumseh Road East, right in the plaza right next to PartSource the big red building. We're open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the week, Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m." he said.
The Detroit Lions close out the Sunday slate, taking on the Los Angeles Rams in the Sunday nighter at Ford Field.