The most popular item at the Masters is the green jacket. There’s no denying that. But, as only one person can leave Augusta National with it, we have to settle for insane amount of branded merchandise that was available at the new Main Golf Shop, which was built on the spot of the old press building.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to watch the tournament from Augusta, but thankfully we’ve been able to see reports of just how massive the merchandise offering, which is now held in a space twice as big as previous years, was.
As Mike Buteau of Forbes put it: “This isn’t a typical merchandise tent you would find at other golf events or even something you would find in the nicest NFL stadium. It’s a merchandise mall on the grounds of a golf course.”
Teddy Greenstein from the Chicago Tribune wrote: “On Monday afternoon I waited in a line that started outdoors and snaked around in the shape of a block ‘I.’ It was the length of a United Airlines TSA line at O’Hare, but moved much quicker, less than 10 minutes to get inside. And once inside … wow.”
Wow is right.
If we could sum it up with one stat, it’d be this: There were 125 different styles of hats, which were sold on a designated “headwear wall.”
Take a look inside the state-of-the-art facility providing a much-enhanced shopping experience this year at #themasters. https://t.co/dvsSYIABYZ
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 1, 2018
Greenstein noticed that the store had 64 registers to handle the crowd of shoppers. Forbes also reported that the retail spot had 385 mannequins. That’s about the size of my high school graduating class. (Go Colts!)
Part of the reason for this enormous new shop is the fact that you can’t get Masters gear anywhere else. And, according to Forbes, Augusta National has no plans to expand its retail efforts any time soon. So, for many people lucky enough to actually attend, the shop is a necessary pitstop to prove that you went, and maybe pick up some things for family and friends.
In terms of the actual merchandise, there’s just about any branded item you can imagine: apparel, drinkware, beverage insulators (some of which were leather), pet items like collars, garden gnomes dressed like caddies, drinkware and bags.
