IlluMyFi

ANN ARBOR, MI -- Ann Arbor retailers are celebrating the University of Michigan football national championship and the whole season, which produced an uptick in sales of Wolverine apparel and more. The M Den in Ann Arbor is just one business feeling the positive impact of the Wolverines' successful football season, Rose Bowl win and national championship win against Washington. The business is the official merchandise retailer of Michigan Athletics and is known for selling apparel for men, women and kids, along with gifts and accessories. "There's nothing that drives sales like a successful football season," The M Den Owner Scott Hirth said. Read more: Celebrate Michigan football's national championship at parade, Crisler Center The Wolverines had fewer home game this year compared to the past, which typically tends to lower sales, Hirth said. Regardless, he said the team's success this year has helped launch The M Den into a "historic start" for 2024. The business recently added roughly 150 products to its inventory after the Jan. 8 national championship game, and Hirth said customers can expect new items to continue to be added in stores every day. The retailer has begun operating 24 hours at its distribution center, employing 20 additional people a day and 20 to 30 more people at night. Hirth estimates the extra help will last for a couple of months. "It's a great thing and we're just going to work 24 hours a day for a while to make sure that all of our great fans and customers are taken care of as they all celebrate this national championship," he said. Read more: Ann Arbor OKs street closures for Michigan football national championship parade The M Den has gone through a win like this before with Michigan's 1997 national championship title, and it even has some products still on its shelves commemorating it. While it may have taken decades to win again, The M Den has been preparing for this year for years, Hirth said. He said The M Den will feel the effects of the national championship for at least a year, adding that he believes the excitement will carry on to not only next football season, but beyond. "It's a historic football season, even had we not won the national championship," he said. "It should be a lot of fun and I do expect a lot of things to impact (the next) football season, especially being national champions." Read more: 'It was electric': Michigan football fans go wild after national championship win Rishi Narayan, co-founder of Underground Printing, hasn't experienced a football national championship win, since the business began in 2001, but he believes there will be a demand for products well into next season. Narayan said he's noticed popularity for Rose Bowl and National Championship items, but also with just standard Michigan apparel. "This is the season that we dreamed of when we first started the business and we first started to sell Michigan apparel," he said. Narayan said he's happy Ann Arbor and its local businesses are feeling the effects of Michigan football's national title, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. Narayan wants to help build on the excitement of this win by drawing alumni and new fans to come shop and enjoy Ann Arbor, he said. "I think it's going to be really cool to see that buzz around the team and people coming onboard to make the pilgrimage to Ann Arbor for a game day," he said. "Our town is lifted up when we have success in our sports."

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Bearish/Bullish

13.01.24 11:27

by mlive.com

Jim Harbaugh, Michigan football national champions parade through Ann Arbor

ANN ARBOR, MI - Shirtless 300-pound linemen. Cowboy hats. A Toucan Sam mascot, for some reason. Most importantly, accolades from Michigan football's national championship season, including running back Blake Corum's "Business is Finished" shirt. The Wolverines, fresh off Monday's College Football Playoff National Championship Game victory, paraded through Ann Arbor near campus on Saturday, Jan. 13, to celebrate the title with thousands of cheering fans. The parade started at 4 p.m. at President Santa Ono's house on South University, turned onto South State Street and ended after a little less than an hour at the team facility at Schembechler Hall. With police escorts bookending the parade, the celebration was led by the Michigan Marching Band only a couple of weeks removed from their performance at the Rose Parade in Pasadena before the Rose Bowl. In between the escorts were members of the football team standing on the backs of pickup trucks as they slowly moved down the street. Some of the vehicles were vintage firetrucks from the Michigan Firehouse Museum in Ypsilanti. With wind and snow swirling, offensive linemen, such as Trevor Keegan, Giovanni El-Hadi and Karsen Barnhart, opted to brave the conditions without shirts. Keegan caught a beverage thrown to him by a fan and chugged it amid roars from the crowd. Keegan was in one of the final cars at the back of the parade alongside Corum, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, head coach Jim Harbaugh and others. Some of the loudest cheers came with this group, as well as Harbaugh's signature "Who's got it better than us...Nobody!" chant. For fans such as Stephanie Frankel, the parade was a throwback to the one she attended as a freshman at University of Michigan after the program's last national championship in 1997. That team split the title with Nebraska, while the 2023 team won the title outright, making Saturday's parade more special. "It was different then also because we didn't know until the next day that we were national champions," she said, pointing to the coaches and Associated Press polls that decided champions at the time. "It's also amazing to be celebrating now with my family versus when I was a freshman," she said, surrounded by numerous children, family and friends. Some of Frankel's children are old enough to understand the Wolverines have come a long way to reach this pinnacle of success. It was 10 years ago that former coach Brady Hoke's last team was 5-7, and it was less than four years ago in 2020 that the team went 2-4. "This has been what we've been waiting for," her husband Andy Frankel said. "To be able to experience these last six weeks, from the Ohio State game to the Rose Bowl to the national championship, with your children with the joy and excitement in their eyes, it was exciting." Adam Kellman was a cheerleader in the 1980s when Harbaugh was the Wolverines' quarterback. Those years under Bo Schembechler were successful, including a Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl appearance, but this year's title is on an...