The Ban on Confederate Flag Memorabilia Is Having One Unintended Consequence…
BY CONOR SWANBERG
The Confederate flag has been under heavy fire following the shooting in Charleston. It’s been removed from major stores like Walmart, Ebay, and Sears.
But now small, independent stores which still sell the merchandise have been surprised with an unexpected consequence—a massive spike in sales.
CNN Money has been actively tracking and interviewing stores that sell the items, such as Flag and Banner, based in Little Rock, Arkansas,
Owner Kerry McCoy has been surprised:
“Somebody in Rhode Island ordered in 50 Confederate (lapel) pins”
“We sold 20 (flags) today and we would normally sell none,”
Another small business owner, Freddie Rich, who runs the Rebel Store in North Carolina, said that sales are “unbelievable right now. This is something I never envisioned.”
He has sold nearly 200 flags in 24 hours, and included this message on his site:
The message reads:
“We appreciate your support during this terribly sad time while the intolerant, the mean spirited, and the uneducated attack our Proud Southern Heritage with a vengeance.
Sorry – we have sold out. Thank you so much – our faith in the South has been renewed!
If you have already placed an order with us – please be patient and rest assured that we are working as quickly as possible to get your order out to you and we will send an email as soon as we ship with the tracking information. We have received over 3,000 orders in less than 24 hours, when a good day for us is 20 orders in 24 hours. We are filling them and shipping in the order in which they were received.
As soon as we are ‘caught up’ with the backlog, we will again have the website back up and running.”
There’s still no verdict on whether or not the Confederate flag will be removed from the South Carolina statehouse grounds, but that hasn’t stopped people from scooping up whatever they can get their hands on after large vendors ceased sales.
