Eager shoppers lined up around the block at the Bay's Olympic Superstore in downtown Vancouver on Sunday, and store reps say some merchandise sales have already exceeded their expectations.
Official 2010 Olympic gear continued to fly off store shelves this weekend, the top seller being the iconic red mittens.
When the mitts hit stores last October, Olympic organizers hoped to sell one million pairs. By Friday, the day of the Games' Opening Ceremony, the Hudson's Bay Company had already moved more than two million.
VANOC marketing director Dennis Kim says they're now aiming to sell three.
The sought-after mittens have caught the eye of both Canadians and international visitors, who told CTV they have been buying them as souvenirs of their Olympic experience.
The downtown Bay location has seen as many as 10,000 shoppers per day, and merchandise is selling four times better than expected. It's all good news for VANOC, which is counting on those sales to make up $54-million of the Olympic budget.
"It's going to take over $500-million in gross retail sales for us to achieve the $54-million target," Kim told CTV News last month.
Team Canada hoodies have been a big hit, but merchandise from other countries, including Russia, the UK and Italy, is also available.
Shoppers who want to skip the massive lines downtown may do well to shop at sister Olympic outfitter Zellers, which has reported much smaller crowds.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Shannon Paterson
