Bears goods head to stores

The boxes will be moving through the Fox Valley warehouses today, closely guarded and sealed with the imprint of the NFL.

Folded inside the cardboard are the first of what might be millions of Bears championship T-shirts, set to hit store shelves the moment the Super Bowl ends tonight.

Local branches of JCPenney, the Sports Authority and Dick's Sporting Goods are all set to stay open until midnight or later after the big game to cater to fans who can't wait to buy championship memorabilia.

"We've never done anything like this before," said Jeannette Hanson, manager of the JCPenney store at Westfield Fox Valley in Aurora. "Even after the White Sox won the World Series, we didn't have the merchandise until the next morning."

That's still the norm in the retail industry, given the fact that most stores are closed Sunday nights and the logistical struggle to get championship gear made and delivered quickly.

Hats, which take more time to make than shirts, usually aren't available until Monday or Tuesday, retailers said.

Still, the few stores that are able to get even limited supplies of championship merchandise delivered this weekend are hoping to cash in on post-game enthusiasm with the late-night sales to die-hard fans.

Of course, if the Bears should lose, the boxes of T-shirts must be returned to the NFL to be destroyed like counterfeit money.

Wal-Mart stores, like most retailers, said they will be offering championship gear starting during normal business hours on Monday.

To tide over anxious Bears fans, however, Wal-Mart did offer a bit of hopeful news.

For the past four years, the nation's biggest retailer has tracked the pre-Super Bowl sales of T-shirts for the two teams in the game, and the team with the most sales has won three out of four times.

As of Friday, the Bears have seen 55 percent of sales nationwide, compared to the Colts' 45 percent.