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<p>The Philadelphia Eagles will be playing in the Super Bowl next Sunday for only the third time in the 52-year history of the big game.</p><p>So, it&#8217;s more than understandable why fans are in a frenzy and Eagles merchandise is flying off shelves at local stores.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s exciting,&#8221; said Matt Hirsch, district manager of Schuylkill Valley Sports. &#8220;It&#8217;s busy.&#8221;</p><p>Hirsch said the chain&#8217;s Wyoming Valley Mall store has NFC Championship gear and expects more inventory early this week. The store&#8217;s Facebook page has been promoting everything from hats and shirts to an official Super Bowl coin.</p><p>Last week, it even posted a video to its page with former WWE star and eastern Pennsylvania native Gene Snitsky promoting a wall of Eagles merchandise.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re coming baby!&#8221; Snitsky exclaims in the video.</p><p>Hirsch said the match-up is doubly exciting since it&#8217;s been over a decade since the Eagles played in Super Bowl 39 &#8212; also against New England &#8212; at the end of the 2004 season.</p><p>But really, he said any time a professional-sports team from Pennsylvania makes it this far into a postseason, there is an uptick in business for gear and merchandise.</p><p>&#8220;They have a great following,&#8221; he said of the team who will wear midnight green on Super Sunday. &#8220;We&#8217;re very excited.&#8221;</p><p>Hirsch is in charge of dropping off product to multiple stores across the region, and said he has been dealing with a lot more merchandise thanks to the Eagles&#8217; success.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been a non-stop process,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Steve Vituszynski, general manager of Boscov&#8217;s in Scranton, said there were people at the store looking for NFC Championship gear just hours after Philadelphia mauled Minnesota.</p><p>&#8220;(They) came in first thing Monday morning,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Vituszynski said Boscov&#8217;s is selling both conference championship and general Super Bowl items, and customers have been eager to scoop them all up.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been selling very well,&#8221; he said.</p><p>He hopes to get another shipment of Eagles offerings before the Super Bowl.</p><p>Meanwhile, you might be asking at this point, what if someone wanted to buy some Patriots stuff?</p><p>Vituszynski said the store has received at least one request from a Brady backer. But &#8212; sorry &#8212; it&#8217;s not selling any New England merchandise.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Brigid Edmunds</p><p>bedmunds@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Stores see uptick in merchandise sales ahead of Eagles’ Super Bowl appearance