From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for July 30, 1989:

The Lawrence area was experiencing a slight boom in sales of Batman-related merchandise in the wake of the release of the movie, “Batman,” on June 23. “We had some of the items about a month before the movie and our sales were great then,” said Cathy Wooden, senior merchandise manager at the JC Penney store, 1801 W. 23rd. Wooden said T-shirts had been big sellers early on, with an estimated 500 sold since the beginning of June, but now the boom was reflected in sales of shoes, sandals, hats, stuffed toys, and figurines. “The Batman merchandise has been doing fantastic for us. We’re still getting in more shipments,” Wooden said. The Palace, Eighth and Massachusetts, had a Batman-themed window display that appeared to be drawing people into the store, and Applause Video, 1401 W. 23rd, was showing steady sales of its Batman items. Tom Graves, owner of Kwality Comics, 1111 Mass., and Paul Leader, a manager at Comics Corner, 2220 Iowa, said there had been an increase in comic book sales since the release of the movie.