Sales of Old Glory Anything but Glorious
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Betsy Ross, who sewed the first American flag in 1776 after a visit from George Washington, would probably shed some tears if she were with us today.
With Memorial Day a week away and Flag Day (June 14) and Independence Day (July 4) just around the corner — a second-quarter period that traditionally accounts for 33% to 40% of annual flag volume and one that’s equivalent to retailing’s Christmas season — flag sales right now should be humming, if not booming.
They’re not. The word in this relatively small industry — an estimated $150 million to $200 million annually at the retail level — is that sales of Old Glory are flagging.
Growth in flag sales has leveled off sharply this year, Kevin Hickey, the co-owner of Online Stores of New Stanton, Pa., the nation’s largest Internet flag retailer, tells me. In fact, he figures this year’s sales growth for the company should be at the lowest level since he and his wife, Lisa, started it in 2000 from the basement of their home in Murrysville, Pa.
“Demand for flags is waning; there seems to be reduced patriotism because of the lack of support for the Iraq war,” Mr. Hickey says. “Flying a flag, to many people, seems to be a sign that they’re supporting the war, and many persons just don’t want to do that.” He also believes the growing number of anti-war demonstrations is hurting flag sales.
The current sales tempo, he says, is a far cry from the period after the September 11, 2001, bombing of the World Trade Center. At that time, patriotism swept the nation and there weren’t enough flags to satisfy demand because there weren’t enough flag makers. Another sales outburst, he says, occurred after America went to war with Iraq in 2003. Now, though, flag interest has drooped, he says.
His online company, whose product offerings also include tea, teapots, gifts, and safety equipment such as hard hats, sells roughly 2.5 million flags a year at an average price of $14.50. Ranging in size, the bulk are lightweight polyester flags at $3.95; nylon, $14.75, and heavyweight polyester, $23.95.
The country’s biggest flag retailer, Wal-Mart Stores, refused to discuss the level of sales activity on the product, but a check of several units in the New York, New Jersey, and Chicago areas found sales to be slow or spotty. “The flag business is not what it used to be,” one Wal-Mart merchandise manager says. “I think it’s the war; just too much opposition to it.” Flags at Wal-Mart are priced at $9.96 to $24.96.
Nationally, there are only about seven American flag makers, down from an estimated dozen over the past decade. In fact, the industry’s trade group, the Flag Manufacturers Association of America, has only four members. American-made flags imported from abroad —which represent an estimated 10% of the business here — are said to be snaring a growing market share. The biggest flag buyer, as might be expected, is the American government.
Annin & Co. of Roseland, N.J., the country’s largest maker of American flags, gave me mixed messages when I inquired about the pace of sales. At first, a spokeswoman for the firm, Dale Coots, characterized current business as good and above average. A few moments later, though, when I brought up the retailers’ reports of weakness, she altered her comments to note that flag sales were experiencing an impact from the backlash against the war. By the same token, she pointed out, the business was also enjoying a boost in some parts of the country from people who were buying them to express their support for the troops.
Speaking of the troops, Mr. Hickey tells me Online Stores is experiencing a fair amount of business from some stepped-up sales (now 5% of its flag business) to members of the military caught up in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, while the stars and stripes may be suffering in flag sales, that’s not the case with a flag-decorated holiday cake replete with whipped cream, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries that the Food Emporium is offering at $14.99 during the last two weeks of May. “We only have one left, so you better hurry,” a store manager told me.
Flag sales should only be so good.
