Buckeye fans looking to purchase Ohio State hats and apparel now have another place to shop. Lids, known for its hat merchandise, opened a Buckeye-themed store at 1924 High St. earlier this month.

This Lids is unlike any other. Selling only OSU apparel and hats, its merchandise is different from the hundreds of other Lids stores around the world.

“This Lids store falls within a new division of our company named Lids Locker Room, which entails stores with a broad assortment of officially licensed team merchandise,” said Jon Glesing, who works in the Marketing and Public Relations Department at Lids Corporate in Indianapolis.

Lids recently acquired Sports Avenue, a company that specializes in similar ventures. With the purchase, Lids now operates a variety of specialty shops like the OSU-themed store on High Street.

Some of the specialty shops include an Auburn Tigers store at Auburn University, a Dale Earnhardt shop in North Carolina and a New York Jets store in New York City.

Leslie Stoel, an associate professor in fashion and retail studies at OSU, said the idea is a good business move.

“The size of the faculty, staff and student body is huge relative to most other universities, and many of these people have a strong interest in team shop merchandise,” she said. “So it is likely that our campus population can support a specialty store of this nature.”

Others are not sure about Lids’ decision to only sell Buckeye apparel in its High Street store.

Erica Clark-Covert, president of the Fashion Production Association at OSU, said she thinks it would be better if Lids sold other Ohio sports teams’ apparel as well.

“I have many friends who enjoy watching the Reds just as much as the Buckeyes, so they may want a new Cincinnati Reds hat before purchasing a new Buckeye hat,” Clark-Covert said.

Gesele Booker, president of OSU’s Black Retail Action Group, agrees with Clark-Covert.

She said she thinks OSU students will get tired of the store unless it starts selling other teams’ apparel.

“If (Lids) is to expect longevity, it will be essential for them to offer the same variety of merchandise as the other franchises,” Booker said.

Some OSU students are excited about the new store.

“I got really pumped. I love hats and love going to Lids,” said Bryan Saylor, a first-year in film studies.

Marcus Mamarella, a first-year in accounting, echoed that enthusiasm.

“I think it’s sweet,” he said. “I always love going to Lids. I’d buy every hat in the store if I had the money.”

Lids had been looking to bring a store to High Street for years, store manager P.J. Adams said.

The new store replaced UniversiTEES, which moved to a location farther north on High Street on Oct. 15.

Along with its hats, Lids sells OSU apparel and novelty items, and performs custom embroidery on its hats.

Hats range from $10 to $32, and custom embroidery is about $7 per side of a hat.

Lids is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

When the Buckeyes have a home football game, Lids opens an hour earlier Saturday.

Lids is part of Hat World Inc. The franchise was acquired in 2004 by Genesco Inc. There are more than 400 stores worldwide, including 33 in Ohio and five in the Columbus area.