Many planned on celebrating the Packers Super Bowl XLII appearance by hosting or attending a party. Others planned on heading out to a local watering hole to cheer on the green and gold in the big game. When all was said and done, it's a good bet a large number of those people would have bought a "champions" T-shirt had Green Bay won its fourth Vince Lombardi Trophy.
They weren't alone. Many businesses in the area had been looking forward to a Packers' Super Bowl appearance. Bars, restaurants, grocery stores, liquor depots and area souvenir shops and screen printing companies stood to make a pretty penny in the wake of the Packers' success.
But, a 23-20 overtime loss to the Giants in the NFC Championship Game forced many to turn to Plan B.
Roundy's, the area's largest grocery store chain, expects brisk business for the Super Bowl. But the Packers' trip to the NFC Championship Game was a boost to business along the lines of the two biggest grocery holidays of the year; Christmas and New Year's.
"Super Bowl weekend is typically very busy for all stores because so many people are interested in the Super Bowl," Roundy's spokeswoman Vivian King explains. "Regardless of who's in the game, people are planning parties -- at least to watch the commercials -- and we do a lot of business with food items and party trays for the Super Bowl.
"What was different this year was that the Packers were in the playoffs for so long. It was a huge boon to our business. Fans were having big gatherings to watch the games."
Local Pick 'n Save stores got into the spirit of the playoffs by putting together special cakes and floral arrangements. While most sales are organized from higher in the corporate chain, things that Wisconsinites typically enjoy at parties -- brats, cheese and sausage platters and, of course, beer -- were hot sellers.
No fan's wardrobe is complete without the latest apparel. Ross Salchow of Insomniac Ink, a local T-shirt company, was ready to get the work following a Packers victory. With the season over, his stock of blank green shirts will be used for other items.
"We had been doing quite well selling our "Super Favre" shirts (which crossed the Superman logo with Favre's jersey number) all year," Salchow says. "We were also about to launch an eBay sale of our "Party Like it's 1996" shirts, much like we did for the Bears' trip last season."
The "Party Like its 1985" shirt was one of the company's all-time best-sellers. Insomniac Ink also planned to participate in event with a local sports radio station. Now, Salchow says, the company's focus will turn to the Brewers.
"We've already see a jump in sales of our Brewers gear," Salchow says. "People seem to be looking forward towards baseball season."
Bars, not surprisingly, probably stand to lose the most from the Packers' loss. Local establishments are routinely packed on Packer Sundays and few seats were available during the playoffs.
Whether it was a local, neighborhood tavern, an upscale Milwaukee Street club or a Water Street staple, being at a bar during the playoffs was the next best thing to being at Lambeau Field.
Wally Paget has no plans to scale back his bar's Super Bowl festivities. The owner of Buck Bradley's, 1019 N. Old World 3rd St., will have the bar open all day with numerous specials. The Packers' loss put was disappointing, but from a business standpoint, Super Bowl Sunday is a can't-miss proposition.
"We did well with our Sunday promotions throughout the year," Paget says. "There's going to be a definite downturn in business, I understand that. But I had already worked out some things with Beer Capital (a local distributor) and Coors Light (an official NFL sponsor), so I'm still going with it."
Business at Buck Bradley's was solid throughout the season, but actually reached a zenith for a game that didn't involve the Packers. The Cowboys and Giants were playing their divisional playoff game on a Sunday night while Hannah Montana played a show at the Bradley Center. Paget says most of his crowd that night in the packed bar was parents who wanted to see if the Packers would host the NFC Championship Game.
"It was really amazing," Paget says. "The place was completely filled with parents who dropped their kids off at the concert. They came to watch the game and you could tell when the show let out because the cell phones started ringing and there was a mad rush to the back door."
