HART/TURNER - Please fix this!!!

[smuhype]

Mr. Hart - Dr. Turner:

I know you dont have control of students leaving at halftime which is currently getting debated here, but I do know you can make a difference in one area that have bothered me for 20+ years since graduating from SMU:

1) We have ALWAYS had lousy presence around Dallas relative to Sports Paraphenalia
2) We have NEVER been able to go to [deleted]'s, Sports Authority, Athletic Supply, etc. to buy SMU Gear
3) You can't find ANY SMU gear at Target, Wal-Mart -- both of which have set up college gear areas
4) I get harrassed at work with guy laughing at the 2 ft section of space we have at Rally House
5) I went to Sam's Club this weekend only to see every Texas college represented with printed coolers, tents, yard flags, etc.
6) Gameday Flag section at HomeDepot includes all the big Texas colleges - Except the Ponies.
6) Local car wash has a shipper display with every college hat for sale -- Except SMU!

This all culminated last year for me when I got 7 new families to buy season tickets and try our product --- got multple calls of frustration from some of them trying to find WHERE they could buy SMU gear to wear for the game.!!!!! I could only send them to the Varsity Bookstore - simply unnacceptable!

I have emailed Rick a couple of times and I know he is a aware and working the issue.

While I know there are complations, etc --- No way this cant be fixed. No way. We should be giving our product away to ANYONE and EVERYONE who is willing to licence our product.

PLEASE GET THIS FIXED NOW WHILE OUR MOMENTUM BUILDS --- WE HAVE TO STRIKE NOW!!!

[smusic 00]

Please do a search and read through the 10,000 previous threads and references to this.

Also, please go to WalMart, [deleted]'s, Sports Authority, CVS, Kroger, and Academy and note their selection of SMU tshirts, flags, stickers, shot glasses, etc.

Also, please use Google shopping and note the large selection.

Maybe open a retail store and explore the notion of supply/demand as well.

Sorry your friend laughed at you because of Rally House. Welcome to SMU.

[Come and Take It]

Which Academy are you referring to? I've been to 6 or 8 in the last 2 days looking for other items and haven't seen 1 SMU item in any of them.

[smusic 00]

Forest/75. It's been about a month since I was there, but I saw a few tshirts and hats next to the giant TCU and UT display.

[smuhype]

With all due repsect our presence at those locations is horrendous. Its so bad that usually when my wife and I stumble upon something we usually buy it --- AVAILABILITY is a PROBLEM outside the Internet.

But I dont care about the Internet, I care about my school getting daily marketing impressions on the ground in every store possible --- not that hard to understand.

Would never expect to be Texas and A&M, I get that. But no way TCU availability cant be our target. In fact I would suggest TCU should be our target in alot of areas. They seemed to have figured it out.

Dont talk to me about Supply and Demand - I get that.

I just want progress and it's an area Leadership can fix for us.

[Come and Take It]

Was there today and nada. Not 1 item. Sports Authority from time to time and the Wal Mart at Northwest Highway and Skillman have a decent selection. So does the Tom Thumb on Lovers and Greenville. But if you want new Nike gear, or Adidas, or Under Armour and not some chinchy gear, it's either the bookstore or online.

[PonySnob]

Was there today and nada. Not 1 item. Sports Authority from time to time and the Wal Mart at Northwest Highway and Skillman have a decent selection. So does the Tom Thumb on Lovers and Greenville. But if you want new Nike gear, or Adidas, or Under Armour and not some chinchy gear, it's either the bookstore or online.

Nothing wrong with supporting the bookstore.......

[blackoutpony]

Was there today and nada. Not 1 item. Sports Authority from time to time and the Wal Mart at Northwest Highway and Skillman have a decent selection. So does the Tom Thumb on Lovers and Greenville. But if you want new Nike gear, or Adidas, or Under Armour and not some chinchy gear, it's either the bookstore or online.

Bought a Nike dri fit SMU polo from Mcarthys the other day. I know what you mean though

[smusic 00]

Yeah, I don't really get the complaint honestly. The nice stuff is at the bookstore, and they put their stuff online . Plenty of cheap tees at above mentioned spots.

Also, RGT can't force a business to stock anything. When we win the Rose Bowl they will be selling knockoffs on the exit ramps of 75.

[Statler]

Yeah, I don't really get the complaint honestly. The nice stuff is at the bookstore, and they put their stuff online . Plenty of cheap tees at above mentioned spots.

Also, RGT can't force a business to stock anything. When we win the Rose Bowl they will be selling knockoffs on the exit ramps of 75.

When we win the Rose Bowl, we need to be on our knees as the second coming is about to occur.

[Come and Take It]

Was there today and nada. Not 1 item. Sports Authority from time to time and the Wal Mart at Northwest Highway and Skillman have a decent selection. So does the Tom Thumb on Lovers and Greenville. But if you want new Nike gear, or Adidas, or Under Armour and not some chinchy gear, it's either the bookstore or online.

Nothing wrong with supporting the bookstore.......

Absolutely agree. Probably 95% of my gear comes from there. But Hype has it right. I've seen more LSU gear in area stores than our stuff.

I might be mistaken, but I remember someone saying the school wanted to control all of the marketing, that's why they don't see Nike or Adidas stuff anywhere. This was some years back so I have no idea if that is still true.

[SoCal_Pony]

I'm hoping our BB program will increase interest in SMU, especially a Sweet 16 NCAA tourney run next season.

Wouldn't hold my breath on our FB program, just follow our attendance for the remainder of this season and tell me again why retailers should give us equal billing with UT, A&M or even the frogs or Baylor.

[SMU_Alumni11]

Was there today and nada. Not 1 item. Sports Authority from time to time and the Wal Mart at Northwest Highway and Skillman have a decent selection. So does the Tom Thumb on Lovers and Greenville. But if you want new Nike gear, or Adidas, or Under Armour and not some chinchy gear, it's either the bookstore or online.

Nothing wrong with supporting the bookstore.......

Absolutely agree. Probably 95% of my gear comes from there. But Hype has it right. I've seen more LSU gear in area stores than our stuff.

I might be mistaken, but I remember someone saying the school wanted to control all of the marketing, that's why they don't see Nike or Adidas stuff anywhere. This was some years back so I have no idea if that is still true.

I've seen more TCU stuff on this side of DFW than smu stuff... We are screwed. We can't best a tech team to save our life. We are stuck with a coach we don't care. The entrance to the real FBS is closed if not already.

[CalallenStang]

I won't comment on the original post, but I will say this: If you have SMU stuff, wear it! And not just on gamedays, either. We need all the free advertising we can get.

[peruna11]

Don't get me wrong, it makes me ill to see all the options of just about every major college at shops around town. It makes me even more sick to see the purple sections growing exponentially around Dallas.

Every thread discussing SMU product availability, crowd size, crowd involvement, no new cool uniforms, and even conference realignment all boil down to one simple requirement.... WINNING. We can't keep sucking and expect any of the other things we want.

Think about this scenario: You open a retail store specializing in sports apparel. You have $10,000 to stock your inventory. What do you fill your shelves with realistically? Could you risk ANY exposure carrying SMU gear? I'm not sure I would, and i love SMU. Heck, even on consignment, would you give up the space in your shop when UT, OU, LSU, and TCU are flying out the door?

I long for the day when I can go to a store and buy the latest Nike Pro Combat Fly-wire Laser-etched Future-fiber SMU polos in all 3 colors (and maybe even in black ). Unfortunately, our own book store (right on the edge of campus, dead smack in the middle of town) can't risk that kind of inventory turn.