Less than 48 hours after LeBron James announced he was joining the Philadelphia 76ers, fans lined up Sunday morning outside Mitchell & Ness' flagship store in Center City to get their hands on newly released merchandise celebrating the NBA superstar's arrival.
At 11 a.m., the company debuted a $55 T-shirt featuring James alongside the Sixers logo and his signature pregame chalk toss.
Store manager Josh Steinberg said the response has been immediate.
"People are coming in, buzzing. Everybody's happy," Steinberg said.
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Sixers fans lined up at Mitchell & Ness' flagship store to get their hands on newly released merchandise celebrating LeBron James' arrival. CBS News Philadelphia
Some fans traveled hundreds of miles to be among the first to buy the new gear.
Erin Statmore flew from Naples, Florida.
"I took a 6 a.m. flight to get here, be in line, third person to be in line to get one of the T-shirts," she said.
Another fan, Keaton Kovacs, who grew up in Allentown and now lives in Orlando, said the purchase was coming home with him.
"Ready to rock and roll with it — it's gonna make the trip back to Florida with me!"
Mitchell & Ness said work on the design began long before James officially announced his decision.
Adrienne Carlson, the company's senior director of commerce and retail, said designers began preparing once reports narrowed James' possible destinations.
"As soon as the talks went out of LeBron — the three teams he could've gone to — whether it was Miami, Cavs, or Philadelphia, we were already in design," Carlson said.
The company then moved quickly to manufacture the shirts locally so they could be available within days of the announcement.
"We wanted to pull in as fast as we could, so we actually worked hyper-local in our community to print our T-shirts, and now they dropped here Sunday morning," Carlson said.
Steinberg said Sunday's turnout was unusual for the middle of the summer.
"We expected a little break right now, but with LeBron signing, we're right back in it," Steinberg said.
The excitement wasn't limited to apparel.
Fans also customized hats with James' No. 23.
David Cowperthwait said he wishes he had bought season tickets before James' announcement.
"Yeah, I wish I would've gotten them before the news came out," he said. "They're pretty hard to get now."
Whether or not fans are able to snag tickets to a few games or none at all, everyone can agree that this Sixers season is going to feel different.
"Exciting time!" Stratmore said. "Exciting time for the Sixers, exciting time for Philly."
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