“The America’s Cup Licensee products are selling well,” said George Grundmuller, the president and chief executive officer of Phoenix Stores.

As soon as the group heard about the America’s Cup licensee programme it immediately jumped on board and last year designed several affordable gifts for the programme.

“We have a beautiful towel, bottle and cup koozies, magnets, key chains, umbrellas, tote bags and paper weights all with the America’s Cup logo,” Grundmuller said.

“We are really excited about our offering which is quite affordable and already selling really well. I think we will sell out, which should encourage people to visit one of our stores sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment.

“All of our America’s Cup items are available at The Phoenix Stores across the island as well as in Brown & Co.”

The group already manufactures several items for the tourist market for both Dockyard Pharmacy and Brown & Co.

“Essentially, we only had to decide which items we wished to offer in this regard, as we knew from the beginning that we would play some role in this initiative.

“We looked at what were some of our best sellers in this area and went with those items,” Grundmuller said.

“We figure visitors would want to take gifts and mementos back home, but were sure to offer items that can also be used during the actual event.”

Mr Grundmuller said that the company was very experienced in manufacturing and used in-house expertise.

“We have a very capable team and certainly relied on the experience in-house when designing the America’s Cup collection,” he said.

“We also worked closely with the America’s Cup team and listened to their suggestions during the planning process. Their team felt there was room in the market for our offering and together we’ve put together a really good line of America’s Cup official merchandise.”

Aside from the America’s Cup licensee merchandise, the group has had to ramp up production on their other lines for Brown & Co and Dockyard Pharmacy.

“We heavily increased our tourism product this year as we are expecting really good business in May, June and beyond. We anticipate tourists will continue to visit through at least October and will enjoy shopping with us while on-island,” he said.

“Surely with the increased advertising of the island surrounding this initiative and the large number of people around the world preparing to watch the America’s Cup, Bermuda is sure to benefit for years to come.”

Although all of the licensees only have a small window in which to sell off the America’s Cup licensed merchandise, Mr Grundmuller said that they have already seen an increase in sales.

“Sales have been really brisk and we may not even have enough product to carry us through, but that is a good thing,” he said.

“Ideally we would like to sell all of our merchandise in this regard. We saw people buying our America’s Cup items as Christmas gifts from as early as the fourth quarter last year.

“And, the closer we get to the event, the more interest we’ve seen. Our stores are well prepared and eager to see how it goes.”

Of the America’s Cup licensee process, he said: “The America’s Cup Team Bermuda was really good to work with and the process was pretty painless.”

Aside from the retail market, The Phoenix Stores is also selling the America’s Cup merchandise to the corporate market.

“Those companies interested in having packages put together are encouraged to contact The Phoenix Stores for further details and pricing,” Mr Grundmuller said.

All items are available at The Phoenix Stores, which includes seven pharmacies across the island, as well as Brown & Co.