Retailers are expecting
hot holiday sales from playing cards, chips
TOLEDO, Ohio --
With
Texas Holdem
poker's
popularity growing because of televised tournaments,
retailers are betting that playing cards and chips will
be among the must-have items during the holiday shopping
season.
Stores are
showcasing displays of casino-quality chips and gaming
tables with holders for drinks and betting chips.
"I'm not a big
Texas Holdem
poker player,
but I know a lot about it because it's such a hot item,"
said Kmart spokeswoman Caryn Klebba. "It seems like the
teenagers are in love with it."
Wal-Mart
spokeswoman Karen Burk said the renewed interest in
Texas Holdem
poker may make
a deck of cards the top stocking stuffer of the holidays
this year.
Texas Holdem
Poker, which
was introduced to much of the country by riverboats on
the Mississippi and Ohio rivers in the 1800s, is now
seeing another surge thanks to tournaments being
televised on cable networks.
"The World Series
of Poker" on ESPN along with Bravo's "Celebrity Poker
Showdown" and the "World Poker Tour" on the Travel
Channel are among the hit new shows.
Few networks were
interested in
Texas Holdem
poker until
the World Poker Tour turned into an overnight success a
year ago.
PokerStars.com, a
popular Web site that offers
Texas Holdem
poker online,
estimates based on anecdotal research that from 50
million to 60 million people play poker at least once a
month.
Games range from
high school students gathering in basements on weekend
nights to organized tournaments.
Noah Campbell, 25,
started a weekend tournament in Toledo this year that
draws a combined 80 players on Friday and Saturday
nights, with the money going to charities.
He spent at least
$2,000 buying tables, cards and chips. Campbell said
many of his friends are buying their own supplies too --
including high-end chips and cards.
"They want to
emulate what they see on TV," he said.
Sears, Roebuck and
Co. sells a $99 gaming set that comes in a portable
velvet-lined case with a chrome handle and 300 chips and
two decks of cards.
Georganne Greece, a
buyer for the company's game room group, said
expectations are that poker supplies will see a huge
surge in sales in the coming months.
"It's somewhat in
its infancy," she said. "But early indications are that
we're going to sell through most of this product -- even
the high-end items."
Most items began
arriving at Sears stores in the middle of August. "We
saw it fly away," she said.
Books written by
some of the game's best-known players, such as Phil
Hellmuth and Doyle Brunson, have been top sellers at
Borders bookstores, said Beth Bingham, a spokeswoman for
Borders Group Inc.
Hellmuth has a
second book, "Bad Beats and Lucky Draws," coming out in
November. He's also working on a couple more for next
year.
In the last year,
Borders has added 20 percent more poker-related books.
"It's not just the book titles," Bingham said. "There's
a lot more products -- we're carrying poker games, a
Texas Hold 'Em game."
Restoration
Hardware, the furniture and home decor retailer, sells
playing cards and all the extras -- mechanical card
shufflers, playing card coasters and shot glasses.
The retailer, just
like any good poker player, had a little luck on its
side, too. It began stocking gaming items a few years
before the poker boom.
Dave Glassman, a
spokesman for the Corte Madera, Calif.-based company,
said at first the items "didn't get much visual
importance in the store." But the company was
well-positioned to capitalize when poker shows on
television began drawing fans.
Now the items are
front and center inside its stores and catalogues.
Crate & Barrel
spokeswoman Bette Kahn said poker's elevation is a
testament to the power of television.
It's hard to say
whether card playing will stick around, she said. "It
may not be a fad. They've played Texas Holdem poker for
years and years," Kahn added.
