Jackson Memorabilia Sales Skyrocket
King of Pop's death sparks new interest in all things Jackson
By RANDY MCILWAIN
Updated 11:30 PM CDT, Fri, Jun 26, 2009
If you have some Michael Jackson memorabilia, cherish it. If you don't, you'll need some good luck finding some!
The King of Pop's death has triggered a run on all things Jackson related: CDs, DVDs, posters, clothing, if it has Michael Jackson's name or likeness, its value or its demand has increased since Thursday.
Managers with Best Buy's Frisco location said the store ran out of Michael Jackson merchandise within hours of the announcement of his death.
"Nothing like this before, even this morning we've been pretty crowded with people looking for it," said Dave Durre, a manager at a Best Buy Frisco location.
In fact, Durre said it's not just folks in Frisco making a run on Jackson items -- it's everywhere. He said every Best Buy location nationwide is out of Michael Jackson or Jackson 5 merchandise.
To put in perspective on just how eager people are to own something relating to the King of Pop consider this, in Texas Best Buy stores statewide report selling about 1,500 Jackson items per week usually.
This week they've sold 15,000 Jackson CDs or DVDs, most of it in the immediate hours following his death and Friday morning.
That's in an era where store sales compete with computer downloads and eBay.
"It's really unprecedented," said Durre. "It's unexpected. You can't predict anything like that, it's a piece of nostalgia that you have to have now, even with radio stations playing it, you just want to own it."
The only thing to rival a sales jump of this kind, according to Best Buy, are major gaming releases like Madden Football.
Durre said he can't imagine another music artist of any kind presenting the same demand where stores nationwide are without inventory.
Best Buy's corporate offices have placed a call to Sony Records asking them to send its stores anything Michael Jackson related as soon as possible.
Jackson was already the biggest selling recording artist in the world and store managers everywhere are quietly predicting the King of Pop may out sell himself in death.
First Published: Jun 26, 2009 9:30 PM CDT
You Might Like
You have 2000 characters left
