People may think that Brian Hoffman is some type of football soothsayer. After all, with Kansas University’s strong start to the football season, he picked the perfect time to move and expand his longtime sports apparel store, the Sports Dome.

Hoffman moved his store from its eight-year home at 942 Mass. into a space five times larger at 1000 Mass., where the former 7th Heaven was located. He opened the store Sept. 4, when KU opened its football season. Hoffman’s staff increased from three employees to six employees because of the expansion.

Since then the Jayhawks have gone 2-0 and KU football fans have been snatching up merchandise.

“KU football has been a tremendous boost for us,” Hoffman said. “You know, I looked at their schedule this year and wasn’t counting on much because I thought the schedule was so tough. But after this start, I had to almost double my orders on KU football to make sure that I had enough merchandise in here.

“If we get a win (today), it will be huge. People will be really excited.”

Other sports apparel retailers have reported strong sales.

“Absolutely, business has been great,” said David Timmons, general manager of the Jock’s Nitch Hawk Zone, 1443 W. 23rd St. “Anytime you can have another successful sport, that is going to help business.”

The Hawk Zone became the second Lawrence location for the Jock’s Nitch when it opened its doors in April. The company also has a downtown store. But like the Sports Dome, it didn’t expand its business to take advantage of some resurgence in KU football.

“We really wanted to have a store outside of downtown,” Timmons said. “Downtown can be a tough place to get in and out of.”

Hoffman said he decided to move because he had outgrown his 1,000-square-foot space. Specifically he wanted more room to stock a larger selection of youth and women’s sports apparel. He said he had noticed an uptick in sales of women’s apparel.

Brian Hoffman, owner of Sports Dome, sorts through T-shirts at the store, 1000 Mass. The Sports Dome recently expanded by relocating from 942 Mass., a space nearly five times smaller. Hoffman said sales of Kansas University apparel have been strong because of the football team's 2-0 start.

He theorizes that it might be because more girls have begun playing sports, which makes them more likely to be lifelong sports fans.

“Or maybe they have just decided to start going to the games to catch up with their husbands,” Hoffman said. “I don’t know, but I can tell you that I when I first started, I never envisioned getting into women’s wear.”

As good as KU’s strong start has been for business, the sports gods haven’t been smiling on the industry entirely, Hoffman said. For example, in April, Hoffman stocked up on Kansas City Royals merchandise hoping to capitalize on excitement left over from the surprising 2003 season.

“I’m still stuck with a lot of that because they’re horrible,” Hoffman said.

Now he’s keeping his fingers crossed with the Kansas City Chiefs.

“If the Chiefs lose Sunday, that is going to hurt me because they’ll be 0-2 and some of the excitement will be gone,” Hoffman said.

Having his business fortunes tied to the fortunes of a sports team is a bit odd, Hoffman admitted. But he said there was a bright side to the situation.

“Every night I get to tell my wife that we have to switch it over to ‘SportsCenter’ because I have to learn what I need to know for my business,” Hoffman said.