Souvenir Watch

Post reporter Thomas Heath filed this report on his Value Added blog about how one souvenir company is coping with demand for Obama inaugural items.

I talked to the guys at Capsco, Inc., in College Park this morning and asked them how the inaugural souvenir business is going and how they were coping with the inordinate demand for the Obama inauguration.

Capsco, which is short for Capitol Souvenir Company, Inc., has been making souvenirs here since World War I. They are a local institution. Flags, mugs, key chains. Capsco makes them all.

Presidential inaugurations are their version of the Christmas Season.

This year, Capsco created designs for both an Obama-Biden victory and for a McCain-Palin victory. Then as soon as the winner was declared on election night, they told their manufacturers to go at it.

"They knew to start production that night, and that's how we formulated the program," said Jay Goozh, 69, whose family owns Capsco. Jay has been working at the company since the Eisenhower Administration.

He has never seen anything like the demand for Obama merchandise.

"In the past inaugurations, usually things don't start selling until around the new year. Then it dies out after the inauguration. But with this event, there is already a big demand and who knows how long it goes on! For an inauguration, this will be the most we have ever sold. Period."

Read the rest of Heath's story here.

By David A Nakamura  |  November 19, 2008; 4:00 PM ET  | Category:  Souvenirs
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