With the recent success of the ISU men’s and women’s basketball teams, area merchants have been bombarded with customers wanting ISU merchandise featuring their favorite local sports stars.

Penny Soat, manager of T Galaxy, 206 Welch Ave., said she has been overwhelmed with the demand for ISU apparel.

“In the last week, we have gotten phone calls from across the nation [with requests] that we send stuff to alumni,” she said.

ISU fans have increased sales at T Galaxy, Soat said.

“Our sales are up over 20 to 30 percent compared to last year at this time,” she said. “In the last two days, we have been selling conference champ T-shirts the most. But general merchandise is also selling well, especially men’s and women’s basketball.”

University Book Store general manager Lynette Seymour also said she predicted a sales boost because of the recently crowned Big 12 champions.

“Overall, we will have an initial increase, and then if we come out as [NCAA] tournament champs, we’ll have another increase,” she said.

Conference championship T-shirts also have been a top seller at the Campus Book Store, but another hot item on the shelves are ISU flags, said employee Christi Ross.

“People are getting [the flags] because they are wanting to show school spirit,” she said.

Missing from UBS is men’s basketball head coach Larry Eustachy’s trademark black mock turtleneck. The store is opting for another item instead.

“We discussed it about two weeks ago and decided to get a red mock turtleneck instead because the University of Iowa’s colors are black and gold,” Seymour said. “Most of the time we try and only bring in navy blue and red.”

Strawberry Patch, located in the North Grand Mall, has also received an increase in business, said manager Sarah Ritler.

“We are seeing more community members coming in [to buy ISU clothing],” she said. “Sales are up quite a bit.”

Some local stores predicted the demand and stocked up in advance.

“Based on the success of our teams and patterns noticed in the past, we make sure to have enough stock on hand,” Soat said.