If UNC wins National Championship, Triangle stores have special hours for merch, T-shirts
After battling through a bout of the ages against Duke University, a young Tar Heel team — led by first-year head coach Hubert Davis — has made the NCAA championship game for the first time since 2017.
UNC will face a challenging contender in the University of Kansas Jayhawks, a top-seeded program pegged by most analysts as the tournament’s probable victor.
But UNC has already overcome unfriendly odds, ousting higher-ranked teams in every round of March Madness outside of the Elite Eight.
And Triangle stores, including some Chapel Hill stalwarts, are gearing up for a win. If UNC pulls off its seventh championship title, these stores will be ready with the commemorative merchandise.
For some, that means opening after the game ends. Tip off is at 9:20 p.m. EST, and will air on TBS.
Johnny T-shirt: The Carolina Store
Johnny T-shirt, adjacent to UNC’s campus at 128 E. Franklin St., is open every day from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. under normal conditions.
But another UNC championship would call for “something extra,” according to store manager Darren Byerly.
If the Tar Heels take home their seventh victory, Johnny T-shirt will operate from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. for about a month starting Tuesday morning.
“We’ll see when merchandise arrives,” Byerly said, “but we expect we’d get championship stuff pretty quick.”
Shrunken Head
At more than 50 years old, Shrunken Head claims to be Chapel Hill’s original UNC shop. The store has sold championship merchandise for all but UNC’s first tournament win in 1957.
In December, Shrunken Head’s sprinkler system malfunctioned, damaging its floors and ceiling. Since then, the shop has only operated online. But Shrunken Head’s inventory hasn’t shrunk.
“We will have what people are looking for available for pre-order on our website if they win,” said Brittany Castevens, a store manager at Shrunken Head.
The store will also erect a pop-up shop by its storefront at 155 E. Franklin St. “as soon as possible.”
“I think probably by tomorrow morning,” Castevens said Monday afternoon, a few hours before the game. “It depends on how quickly we can get products, but that’d probably be the goal.”
Dick’s Sporting Goods
The retail monolith is planning special hours for its Chapel Hill-area locations pending UNC’s win over Kansas.
If UNC wins, the company’s locations at South Park Mall, New Hope Commons and Wendover Place Shopping Center will reopen immediately following Monday night’s game and open at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Each store is already stocked with NCAA championship merchandise commemorating UNC’s victory.
Academy Sports + Outdoors
The company announced Friday that “sealed boxes of UNC Championship gear has arrived at Academy Sports + Outdoors.”
But, the “boxes will only be opened” if the Tar Heels take home a win.
Should UNC claim victory, Academy’s Apex, Greensboro and Burlington stores will immediately reopen. Each location will “remain open until the last customer is served or the championship product is sold out,” the press release said.
This story was originally published April 4, 2022 at 7:08 PM with the headline "If UNC wins National Championship, Triangle stores have special hours for merch, T-shirts."
