NO HEDGE! Local PA Business Owner And Diehard Eagles Fan On Hook For Refunds To Customers If The Birds Win Next Sunday
FOX 29 - DOYLESTOWN, Pa. - A lot of people may think the owner of Doylestown shop, Sports Connection, John Calvecchio, has gone nuts. His wife thought he was crazy, too. But, Calvecchio, who sells sneakers and sports cards, wanted to do something to cheer on his team and to give back to his customers.
Calvecchio put an ad on his Instagram saying he would refund purchases of $300.00, or more, made from Black Friday to January 29, if the birds win the big game.
"I thought about my love for the birds and the passion this city has and the shared love that we all have for sneakers, urban wear and sports cards," Calvecchio explained. "I thought this would just be a great way to give back and give people an opportunity to share."
John’s wife, Jessica, says customers are very excited about the promotion.
"Some people have been back in multiple times, because of the promotion and bought different things and they keep asking, ‘Is that promotion still good?’ Yup, it’s still good!" Jessica Calvecchio explained.
Got told about this through a friend, who knows the story through a friend of a friend. John Calvecchio does his best impression of Mattress Mack and offered a promotion of refunds for his team's success. The clothing and sneaker store offered refunds of $300 or more on purchases from Black Friday to The NFC Championship game.
All in all this is an awesome type of story, especially for a small business. The owner drives customers to the store and everyone gets behind the local team. Also, as we're seeing now, the owner gets some publicity, which even though the promotion is over, hopefully drives up new business as well. People hear about the story, come in to wish him well, or just talk about the Birds. More often than not, they'll grab an item to support the owner for being a good guy, and a diehard fan. We've seen it work with Mattress Mack. He gets a ton of promotion.
The big difference here seems to be that Mattress Mack seems to place a massive wager on his team winning as well. The thought process is if the Mack wins his wager, the refunds he gives out become a wash. If his team loses, it's also a wash because he made a ton of sales on the promotion but loses the wager. Not everyone is Mattress Mack and has that kind of dough to shell out, and while I'm confident John Calvecchio's business is doing well, I know he didn't place enough of a wager to cover the damages. Also, if he didn't place the wager when the promo started, especially at a good price, it's too late now to get great odds.
The real questions now are this ...
Will John place a big wager on the Eagles to cut into his losses?
Or Will John look to get greedy and place a wager on the Chiefs and hit on both sides ? Ie- hit the wager, and collect all the sales profits without a refund. (Given how big an Eagles fan he his I'm pretty confident in that answer)
As I mentioned, he's a friend of a friend, and I'm told a character , so I was able to speak to him earlier today and get some answers.
RB - Do you plan to place a wager on the eagles now to try and cut into losses ?
John : At this point in the game, it's a little difficult to make that happen.
And now for the part where John really is a Philly legend ...
RB : Is there any part of you that would back the Chiefs and try to collect on both sides Meaning the Chiefs cover and you collect that money, as well as not having to refund the purchases?
John : Not one ounce of me thought about betraying my Birds and going against the team I love. Fuck the Chiefs... birds for life.
What a legend. All time answer. Fans like that almost makes up for the maniacs who threw snowballs at Santa all those years ago. Best wishes to John and his store in the next two weeks. What a character.