Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - With the Buffalo Bills' strong start to the 2025 season, local retailers have been reaping the benefits.
Nathan Mroz from the BFLO Store says when the Bills win, the community and the local economy wins.
"This season, so far, we've had a lot of home games which for our stores, it helps tremendously because you have so many out-of-towners coming in. We've really become one of the hot spots for people stopping in. They go to Duff's or Bar-Bill, they get wings, and then one of their big stops is, 'Hey, let's go to the BFLO Store and get some merchandise for the game. So the hot start has helped us," said Mroz in an interview with WBEN.
Chris Bandura from Dave & Adam's in Amherst feels the hype surrounding the Bills has continued to ride strong since the start of the football season, dating back to training camp.
"I think 'Hard Knocks' definitely raised the brand of some of the other players as well that aren't named Josh Allen. I think Dion Dawkins has become such a popular guy with how everything went, and obviously everybody loves the hometown kid, Joe Andreessen," said Bandura with WBEN. "And I think [people are] taking advantage of the the new 'Rivalries' series stuff, especially from a jersey perspective, and the white jerseys are absolutely beautiful and they look great. Just everything is flying off the shelves right now, from sweatshirts to hats. And the NFL has done a great job with their branding, of getting new stuff out there immediately."
Despite the Bills falling to the Patriots on "Sunday Night Football" for their first loss of the 2025 season, Bandura feels people will continue to talk about the Bills as one of the top teams in the AFC this season.
"If you weren't on the bandwagon before, you want to jump on. And with new stuff, everyone wants something new, something different. And everybody's so proud to wear that logo right now," Bandura said.
Mroz says fans are not just purchasing Bills gear to wear at the game, but they're buying the latest merchandise to wear during the week to show their team pride.
"You're more excited to wear Bills all throughout the week, because it's not just, 'Hey, there's a game going on today.' It's actually a lifestyle now. The Bills are doing well, we want to represent our Bills pride, so it becomes more the style of choice for your everyday wear," Mroz said. "Whether you're going to the gym, whether you're going to the park, you'll notice all over Western New York people are wearing the red, white and blue, and an emphasis on the white this weekend with the 'White Out' game as well."
This past week saw a drive in sales with Bills fans looking to "White Out" Highmark Stadium with the team wearing their special "Rivalries" jersey on "Sunday Night Football".
"I think [people are] taking advantage of the new 'Rivalries' series stuff, especially from a jersey perspective, and the white jerseys are absolutely beautiful and they look great. Just everything is flying off the shelves right now, from sweatshirts to hats," Bandura said. "And the NFL has done a great job with their branding, of getting new stuff out there immediately. So we're seeing definitely the trends of everything, but specifically, the 'Rivalries' stuff is hard to keep on the shelves right now."
"We've got a ton of people coming in for the 'White Out' collection, which we've had really a lot of success with," Mroz added. "I think it's a neat opportunity for Bills fans to wear a little bit something different and go with that whole 'Lake Effect' vibe that's so prevalent with the Bills and the Buffalo community, and kind of our reputation across the entire country, if not the world."
And despite some concerns surrounding the possibility of Bills gear going up in price this year with the tariffs implemented earlier in the year, both Bandura and Mroz feel the price of merchandise has remained relatively the same, for the most part.
Regardless of the price, Bandura is amazed at how everyone still wants to get new Bills stuff.
"I don't think the prices that we've seen have been too crazy, but anytime something new comes out, obviously, prices are high. From the 'Rivalries' jerseys to the sweatshirts, it's a higher number, but I think you're seeing that across the board with everything," he said. "I think consumers coming in are understanding that you know what, we're probably going to have to pay a few more dollars for some stuff. But I don't think it's slowing anybody down by any means, especially because some of the newer stuff, somebody wants something new."
As for Mroz, he has so many different vendors from all over the world, with several of them being NFL licensees. That means some prices on merchandise are affected more than others, and it's created different playing grounds.
"For someone who, let's just say they get a lot of their product from China, of course, they're impacted a little bit more than someone that has items either made in the USA or even different countries that haven't had tariffs," Mroz said.
"For us, specifically, what we've done is almost all the vendors that we have, we have such great relationships. And with our larger order quantities, they've been able to help us out with keeping prices either locked in or just small increases. What we've done this year is a lot of times, we haven't even bothered adjusting those prices, mostly to stay competitive and also just to keep it locked in for even our own customers. I think keeping it at a certain level where it's manageable; we understand Buffalo and Western New Yorkers don't have endless amounts of income to spend on Bills product, but they want it. So we have a lot of range in product."
While Mroz acknowledges that pricing for items like hats have gone up, he says there's a different version of hats this year that may be more expensive than others in store.
"For instance, New Era has emphasized more on the cool, dry fit type of style that the players wear on the sidelines. Naturally, those have gone up in price just because of a different style," Mroz explained. "But then you have other things as well that are, I would say, probably $2-to-$3 more, but we've kept the prices almost exactly the same as previous years just to keep the customer continuity and hopefully bring people back."