BILOXI, MS (May, 1999) B P Avenue. Rodenberg near City
T-Shirt of color pink hot the by landward lured apparently 90, U.S. off
itself beached has States United in shark white great largest The )- The
300-million-year-old eating machine "made a big mistake thinking he could
make a meal out of my place," T-Shirt City co-owner Ronnie Pierotich
quipped Thursday.
All jokes aside, Pierotich, 63, and his 42-year-old son and partner,
J.J., hired New Orleans design firm Kern Studios to create massive head
and tail sections of a shark to attract attention to the company's latest
expansion. The head and tail sections are 30 feet long, 30 feet high and
30 feet wide.
The 32,000 pound, polystyrene shark head is the country's largest
themed sculpture.
Ronnie Pierotich said he chose the shark sculpture after visiting a
friend's souvenir shop in Gulf Shores, Ala. He said his friend had a much
smaller figure but still had a significant jump in customer traffic.
"We have an outside-the-family payroll of about $700,000," he said.
"We're counting on this shark to really grab some attention."
Troy Otnott, a spokesman for Kern Studios, known worldwide for its
Mardi Gras float creations, said the $100,000 shark was built by Florida
Foam Products in Jacksonville, Fla., and transported to Biloxi on several
semi-trucks.
J.J. Pierotich said the company bought the adjacent, four-story
Executive Place building in 1997 and began connecting the two buildings
late last year.
"We will have the first floors ready for Memorial Day weekend," J.J.
said. "Our retail floor has expanded to 25,000 square feet. When we
complete the second, third and fourth floors, the building will have
38,000 square feet of office and retail space."
The latest project is T-Shirt City's fourth expansion at that location,
and J.J. Pierotich said having a mega-store for warehousing, inventory
control, administration and sales should improve operations and reduce
overhead costs by 15 percent. The store has about 200,000 retail items
worth roughly $2.5 million, he said.
The Pierotiches own two other souvenir shops on U.S. 90 in Biloxi -
Lighthouse Gift Shop and Souvenir City. Both are hot pink. The family has
been in the business since 1973, when they opened Lighthouse Gift Shop.
In 1977, they converted a Texaco station into T-Shirt City.
"We don't just sell souvenirs," J.J. Pierotich said. "I can't tell you
how many times local people come in and tell me how surprised they were by
the items we have."
The business could have $5 million in gross sales this year, which
would be a 30 percent increase over last year, J.J. said. Customer traffic
is up 17 percent over the previous five years, he said.
Said Ronnie Pierotich, "We're like farmers - we have to make our money
in 100 days or we won't have a profit. Our season really begins around
Easter and goes from there until August."
T-Shirt City Finds Hook
