My son starts Enginnering School at UNC Charlotte this Fall (Don't worry, he still loves App!). I went to our local Dunham sports store here in Lenoir to pick him up some UNCC merchandise and guess what...........nothing! They have UNCG, Elon, UNCW, GA South, GA State, WSSU, JC Smith, ECU, NCSU, ASU, Boise St., Oregon, UNC, Wake, NCSU, Ga Tech, Miami, Penn St, .................You get the idea but not one piece of UNC Charlotte merchandise. Can anyone tell me why that might be the case? Do they distribute their merchandise through a more limited channel?

Congrats on Engineering School. Go online to their BooksStore or you can always find some on EBAY........just kidding about that.

Maybe they sold out of their allotment of 2 items...........

If you are in Lenoir, you are very close to Hickory. At Valley Hills Mall in the sports store on the bottom level, they have a large section on UNCC gear. They also carry a lot of APP gear, some that I have not found in Boone.

Tervis also sells a couple different UNC-Charlotte tumblers (http://www.tervis.com/charlotte-49ers). I do collegiate buying for a chain of Hallmark stores and it's damn near impossible to find UNC-C product. It takes time for collegiate manufacturers to come up with and have product approved by collegiate licensing companies, and some schools are more strict on what they allow to be sold so that could also be hurting UNC-C. Also, since they are still a relatively new athletic program, most collegiate companies probably didn't spend the time or money trying to get a UNC-C license, but in a couple years you'll probably see UNC-C stuff all over.

YOu can always call the Athletic Office and ask about where it's sold.

Thanks for the responses. I've been able to find plenty online and I'll definitely check out the store in Valley Hills Mall. I just found it baffling as to why the Dunham Sports store had t-shirts for so many in state schools and every FBS school across the nation but not one stitch of UNC Charlotte apparel. They even had NC A&T, NCCU, UNCA and Wofford.

I would think it may be because there are only so many things you can put on a car. People can't see your t-shirt when you are driving.
UNCCommuter.

There is commuting, and then there is commuting.

We have some great merchandise, but our marketing and ownership of our brand by the school is terrible. The school bookstore uncc.bncollege.com is best place to look. The site sucks though. There are many things about UNC Charlotte I love, but our marketing and branding is not one of them.

Tell your son to swing by The Normbulance during football season.

Oh, and congrats kickass143. Engineering will pave your son's way to a great life.

Nugget49 wrote:There is commuting, and then there is commuting.

Is thats supposed to be an insult? If a steam engine ran through campus and I could take take to class I would never leave Boone. Obviously you have never been hiking and heard the Tweetsie whistle come through the trees.

appaneer1984 wrote:Also, since they are still a relatively new athletic program, most collegiate companies probably didn't spend the time or money trying to get a UNC-C license, but in a couple years you'll probably see UNC-C stuff all over.

Huh? Get real and find a better reason. You do know that UNCC basketball rode the strong back of Cedrick Maxwell into the '77 Final Four, don't you? That'll soon be 40 years ago!

BTK2000 wrote:

Nugget49 wrote:There is commuting, and then there is commuting.

Is thats supposed to be an insult? If a steam engine ran through campus and I could take take to class I would never leave Boone. Obviously you have never been hiking and heard the Tweetsie whistle come through the trees.

It's also pretty funny that people there choose to brag about the light rail line that goes directly to the campus while at the same time claiming NOT to be a commuter school.

I appreciate the positive informative responses and well wishes for my son! I picked up a couple t shirts at the Sports Fanatic store in the Valley Hills Mall this afternoon.

BTK2000 wrote:

Nugget49 wrote:There is commuting, and then there is commuting.

Is thats supposed to be an insult? If a steam engine ran through campus and I could take take to class I would never leave Boone. Obviously you have never been hiking and heard the Tweetsie whistle come through the trees.

Tweetsie provides a lot of jobs, revenue , and tax base for Watauga County. People come from all around the country to ride Tweetsie.

This is for NWA49, I think that was his user name. I like your Normbulance, I was at a UNCC game in the past and saw it. I think that the rail line will bring lots more students to the UNCC campus and very well may increase student enrollment by a large amount but there is a flip side to that coin. I lived in Charlotte for the first 10 years that I was out of App State and even back then UNCC was a place where the students went to school and then left to go back to apartments all over the city. I see this only increasing the distance that students can live away from campus and thus make selling the UNCC experience that much harder. A problem that you have now is getting students and alumni to go to school events when Charlotte has so many other things that you are in competition with for their attention. It will be that much easier for the on campus students to just hop on the light rail and go to the uptown bar/restaurant scene. I could be wrong but I think that the rail line will do more harm than good for your school spirit that you are trying hard to sell. Only time will tell but keep an eye on the light rail numbers from the school drop off spot and see if they are not high on the weekends. If this is the case then your football numbers will drop. Good luck in the future and I hope that the rail line works out for your benefit.

Nugget49 wrote:There is commuting, and then there is commuting.

The Light Rail won't even go there until next year.... I should know because I live right off the Blue Line and can't wait to ride it (for an hour up to Concord) in 2018 when the Apps come to town to destroy UNCC.

Website and marketing?

People don't sell UNCC swag because no one wants to buy UNCC swag. That's the way supply and demand works.

I just grabbed a new App hat from South Point Mall here in Durham, 3 hours from Boonetown. I didn't even see any UNCC stuff at a store in Concord Mills last time I was there, which is 5 minutes from the UNCC campus. I don't think better marketing and website improvements are going to help.

Perhaps when the SEC move goes official...

Here is some UNCC merchandise...................