Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s romance has proved to be a boon for local businesses in Kansas City, Missouri.
Westside Storey is one business that has found a tailwind in the ongoing romantic relationship between the superstar singer and the Kansas City Chiefs tight-end.
“It’s different for everybody, but for us and the fact that she has shopped us through her team a couple different times, to be completely honest, it’s kind of changed our trajectory,” owner Chris Harrington told FOX Business in a Monday interview.
Swift appeared at a Chiefs game last fall donning a vintage red-and-black Chiefs sweatshirt that was ordered from Westside Storey, bringing the boutique an influx of business. She has gotten other items from the retailer and worn them as well, according to reports and Harrington.
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“Not that we weren’t doing OK before, but the amount of traffic, and the amount of traffic online, and the amount of people coming in and talking about that experience of having Taylor shop out there, it has done so much for us in sales, done so much for us as far as publicity and media,” he said.
Harrington told FOX Business the Swift-Kelce relationship helped his boutique see one of its “biggest” Decembers that it’s ever had.
The positive impact on Westside Storey has continued through 2024 “even in the off-season of the Chiefs,” he said, adding that it was “like a thing that people really identify that with our store and her.”
Swift and Kelce’s relationship “has been great, just in general, for anybody that’s making any kind of products within Kansas City” related to the couple, Harrington also said.
Meanwhile, Media & Production Manager Colin Novick of Rally House told FOX Business that the licensed sports apparel retailer with 16 Kansas City-area stores and others across the U.S. has seen an increase in female items and Chiefs apparel in general since the Swift-Kelce relationship started and she began attending games, including women’s Kelce jerseys.
He noted the singer has worn “vintage kind of one-off products” or custom-made items to some Chiefs games.
“But there have been some games where she will wear something from like 47 or WEAR by Erin Andrews, and then we see a major lift in that when she wears something like that,” he said. “We work very closely with our vendors at 47 and WEAR by Erin Andrews, and we’re always looking for that product, it’s very much more fashion forward.”
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Rally House likes to have that kind of apparel on hand “so we were really set up for success right away, having the inventory on hand of the stuff she [Swift] was wearing to games,” according to Novick.
The achievements of the Chiefs in recent years have driven fan excitement and demand for Chiefs gear, Novick told FOX Business, and Swift has helped grow awareness of the game.
The Swift-Kelce romance has “opened a door for being able to hit a different demographic that is new to watching the Chiefs on Sundays” for Rally House, he said.
“It’s awesome for the game and the community all to get together to watch something and be all behind the Chiefs, but it’s really just opened up some more opportunity for us to go out and look for really fashion forward product that these fans that are now having a lot more attention on the games are going to be looking for,” he added
Novick also said it “creates a fun story to talk to your customer base about” and helps provide the opportunity to “show our customers how intertwined we are with the community and what’s going on in all of the markets that Rally House is in.”
Swift and Kelce have been dating since last year, with the singer first being spotted at a Chief’s game in late September of last year.
She watched Chiefs games in person numerous times over the course of the 2023 season — and that trend appears poised to potentially continue in the current season.
Her attendance has been noted at two games this season when the Chiefs played the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals. The Chiefs are slated later Monday to go head-to-head with the New Orleans Saints.
Swift’s wildly-successful “Eras” tour is currently on break but will start back up later in the month.
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