{"id":966,"date":"2026-01-16T12:54:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T12:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/?p=966"},"modified":"2026-01-16T12:54:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T12:54:38","slug":"the-trump-store-in-philly-plans-to-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/the-trump-store-in-philly-plans-to-close\/","title":{"rendered":"THE TRUMP STORE IN PHILLY, PLANS TO CLOSE…"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Trump Store to Close as Sales Falter, With No Election Battles Ahead<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

The shop in suburban Philadelphia had been a gathering spot for the MAGA crowd to rally during the 2024 campaign.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Mike<\/picture><\/div>
Mike Domanico, the owner of a store that sells Trump merchandise in Bensalem, Pa., said it was time to close its doors.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Hannah Beier for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Nestled in a strip mall in suburban Philadelphia, The Trump Store is hard to miss with its all-caps sign in bold next to a photo of President Trump hugging the American flag. But after six years of drawing MAGA supporters from all over, the 800-square-foot store that sports everything from hats and watches emblazoned with the president\u2019s name is closing.<\/p>\n

The store\u2019s owner, 56-year-old Mike Domanico, said that, with sales down, it was time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not running again,\u201d Mr. Domanico said of the president, who is barred from seeking a third term<\/a> by the Constitution. \u201cWhen something\u2019s happening like an election\u2019s coming up or something in the news happens with Trump, the sales jump. But since there\u2019s no election coming up, things have slowed down.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/picture>\"\"<\/picture>\"\"<\/picture>\"\"<\/picture><\/div>\n

The Trump store was stocked with stuffed animals, T-shirts, hats and the works. <\/span>Credit…<\/span>Hannah Beier for The New York Times<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

By the time Mr. Domanico decided to close the store on Jan. 31, he was making roughly 30 sales per day \u2014 just a fraction of what he once earned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

He recalled making about 100 sales per day in the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, and roughly double or triple that amount when the store first opened to immense demand in February 2020, when Mr. Trump was seeking re-election after his first term.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did very well for the store for six years and it\u2019s just time to move on for me,\u201d he said. The store owner said he wanted to focus on his other businesses, including selling gun-related items.<\/p>\n

The store, in Bensalem, Pa., was a magnet for the Make America Great Again crowd. Large numbers of the politically like-minded gathered in its parking lot for pro-Trump rallies leading up to the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a place that you could go to sing and dance and celebrate Trump,\u201d said Bobbie Murphy, who frequented the store and its rallies. She added, \u201cIt put Bensalem on the map. They came from everywhere for that store.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Murphy, a real estate agent in Bensalem, has collected 50 to 100 pieces of Trump merchandise over the years, including shirts, hats, stuffed animals and tree ornaments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

\u201cWe think small. We don\u2019t think big,\u201d like the president, she said.<\/p>\n

Adam Berinsky, a political science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the MIT Political Experiments Research Lab, said that kind of loyalty is why he would warn against viewing the store\u2019s closure as a sign that the president\u2019s core base was faltering \u2014 even if he\u2019s unpopular with the general public.<\/p>\n

Yphtach Lelkes, an associate professor of communications at the University of Pennsylvania, similarly said that the president\u2019s most loyal supporters are unlikely to leave him. But the decline in sales could signal less enthusiasm among more casual Trump backers who might think twice before sporting a MAGA hat in public.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not only what you believe, but what you perceive other people believe,\u201d he said. \u201cSo if you\u2019re a Trump supporter and you can increasingly see people around you dislike him, it\u2019s going to be riskier to go around donning that signal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
Image<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\"A<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
Kathy Knowles shopping at the store on Thursday.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Hannah Beier for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s approval rating<\/a> is mired at 42 percent, according to a New York Times polling average. The only presidency this century that had a lower approval rating at this point in a term was also Mr. Trump\u2019s, during his first term.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Mr. Domanico said he has been a Trump supporter since the 1980s. He admired Mr. Trump\u2019s ambition and success as a real estate developer, and watched \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d religiously.<\/p>\n

In 2019, he was a general contractor and selling T-shirts at local car shows when someone requested he make Trump T-shirts. He brought about 20 Trump T-shirts to the next car show, and sold out in about half an hour. He began setting up a \u201cTrump 2020\u201d tent in front of his office once a week where he peddled more Trump gear.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmediately it was a hit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Once a week soon became daily. He moved the growing business to a kiosk at Neshaminy Mall, several miles down the road from the closing brick-and-mortar store, for a couple months before finding its final home at the strip mall, which also features Latin American and Chinese eateries as well as an African goods store.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
Image<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\"A<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
The Trump Store in Bensalem, Pa., outside Philadelphia is scheduled to close on Jan. 31.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Hannah Beier for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

\u201cIt took me a couple months to find somewhere, because as soon as I said Trump store to any of the landlords, they were like no way, we don\u2019t want any problems with our building,\u201d Mr. Domanico said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

The store opened in February 2020 to fanfare among conservatives in the swing county with lines out the door. He sold out in the first week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was nuts from the very beginning and one thing led to another and it was crazy and we had a lot of fun with it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump Store to Close as Sales Falter, With No Election Battles Ahead The shop in suburban Philadelphia had been a gathering spot for the MAGA crowd to rally during the 2024 campaign. Mike Domanico, the owner of a store that sells Trump merchandise in Bensalem, Pa., said it was time to close its doors.Credit…Hannah Beier […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=966"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":967,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966\/revisions\/967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}