LISTEN: Downtown Gift Shops See Steady Crowds, but Nothing Record-Breaking

gifts

 

Steve Burns
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON – (WMAL) As Dexter Morris laid some Trump knit hats in the window of his Washington Welcome Center gift shop, he took a break and surveyed the crowd.

“So far, so good. People came in late (Thursday) and business picked up,” he told WMAL. “It’s comparable to 2012. Not quite 2008.”

Still, Morris said, it may be too early to tell on Inauguration Eve. His most popular items so far are bobbleheads, and, of course, the Make America Great Again hat.

A few blocks away at White House Gifts, they’ve been “very, very busy,” manager Mirian Aquino told WMAL. “Four years ago, it was pretty busy. Right now, it seems to be about the same.”

She said she’s only been open five years, so she can’t compare the traffic to 2008. But President Obama merchandise is still a top seller on his last full day in office.

“(President Obama) is actually doing pretty good too. That was my first big sell this morning,” Aquino said.

At a modest stand outside the White House, this man said it’s his first inauguration, but far from his first Trump event.

“I’ve been to 72 Trump things,” he said. “By far the lanyards are the top seller. Lanyards are a big thing.”

He expects his lanyards, buttons, shirts and hats to go fast.

“There won’t be a person down here with nothing of Trump’s. He’s like a rock star now.”

Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (photo: Steve Burns)

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