Poker Craze Fuels Demand For ChipsDecember 3, 2004
It may be a gamble, but retailers bet poker chips will win big this holiday season as the nation’s craze for Texas Hold ‘Em continues to surge.
In 1999, Poker Chips USA in Northridge raked in $60,000 in sales over the holiday season. The online store tripled that amount over the same time frame last year, said owner Gus Fanfassian.
“This is the hottest trend in games right now,” said Ellen Heaney Mizer, game buyer for Barnes & Noble, which will set up displays of poker products in all its stores for the holiday season.
Feeding the frenzy for multicolored
poker chips, cards, tables and all things poker-related are shows such as ESPN’s “World Series of Poker” and Bravo’s “Celebrity Poker Showdown.”
“They’re showing a whole bunch of young people how to play,” said Will Hunt, who started a retail line of poker products called All N’ Poker this summer.
“College kids love the game because it allows them to sit around a dorm room and play for several hours with just a few bucks,” he said.
Even Restoration Hardware, a high-end furniture store based out of San Francisco, is carrying everything from Ace shot glasses to mechanical card shufflers. Wal-Mart, Target and various other retailers are offering an array of poker goods as well.
Poker Chips USA’s most popular item is a 1,500-chip Texas Tournament set that ranges in value from $449 to $649.
“We sell anything you see in the casinos except the dealers,” Fanfassian said.
Aahs! carries everything from dice to poker sets that range from $60 to $200. There is even a sign next to the store’s prominent display of poker products suggesting how many chips are needed for games of varying size.
Since Hunt started All N’ Poker in Davis, Calif., this summer, he said orders for T-shirts and visors bearing the company’s trademark logo — “Dominate the Table,” have swelled to the hundreds on a weekly basis.
“Surfers have Quiksilver and basketball players have Nike — we want to be that brand for poker players,” Hunt said.
