World Cup fever boosts soccer jersey sales for El Paso shops

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Some Borderland businesses continue to experience a boom amid the ongoing World Cup. Many soccer fans have been on the hunt for soccer jerseys representing their favorite team.

ABC-7 spoke with VI Sports in Downtown El Paso, a sporting goods and sportswear store in the heart of the city. An employee said the response has been overwhelming.

"We didn’t expect this to be this high demand. Yeah. So it's kind of shocking,” Jae Yi said.

He said while the store did predict a large spike in customers, they were still stunned. Yi said during the World Cup, the store has seen two to three times more the number of customers coming in.

“It's been amazing,” he added.

However, the soccer fever has also resulted in the store selling out of some items prematurely. Yi said that while the store prepared ahead of time and ordered a larger shipment than they normally would, they still ran out of fan favorites.

Yi said they had a few Mexico jerseys left in limited sizes. He noted that USA jerseys sold out within five hours.

He explained that nearby stores are facing the same issue.

He estimates the store ordered close to 1,000 Mexico jerseys and a couple of hundred U.S. jerseys. He’s been on the hunt to restock, but hasn’t been successful.

“We’ve been trying, but then no one has it. So vendors they don't have any leftovers or anything like that. So we're just calling everyone every day, and see if they have any. It doesn't seem like they have it anymore," Yi said.

He said each customer is spending anywhere between $25-50.

ABC-7 asked him which teams have the most passionate fans.

Yi said, "Mexico fans are by far. They have greater numbers, and they have a greater passion."