Warriors merchandise store opens at San Francisco's Westfield mall

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) -- The first store to exclusively sell official Golden State Warriors merchandise opened Wednesday at the Westfield San Francisco Centre mall on Market Street just a few hours before the team was set to play in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

It is the first official Warriors store in San Francisco and there were plenty of customers to snap up the hats, jerseys and T-shirts.

The store opened at 10 a.m. even though workers were still putting the finishing touches on the store by scraping paint off of the old facade. Even so, dozens of customers crammed into the new store, hunting for foam fingers, bobble heads and basketballs.

The numerous choices were dizzying for Clifton Hyson, who was in the market for a new hat but came sporting some non-official gear: a blue-and-gold cap printed with the words "Make Lebron Pay Again!"

The self-described die-hard Warriors fan also had some advice for LeBron James.

"He's a baby and you don't come in our house and steal nothing," Hyson said. "Didn't your mama teach you to keep your hands to yourself?"

Melissa Ho was about to catch a plane back home to Washington D.C. but just couldn't help buying bags of blue and gold merchandise for her two children.

"We love the Wizards but they're not in the Finals so we love Steph Curry and Kevin Durant!" Ho said.

The Karsli family was in town from Canada for a wedding and decided to stock up on Warrior gear, too.

"Back home we've got the Toronto Raptors (but they) didn't do nearly as well as your team is doing," said Cengiz Karsli. "So we're cheering on for the Warriors."

Workers said the top selling item in the store is a white Steph Curry jersey, the same design that has been a top seller for four years in a row.

Fans were also grabbing black "Finals" hats and T-shirts but store managers said that could change Friday if the Warriors win all four games and sweep the series. That's because the store will have champion shirts and hats ready to hit shelves.

By KTVU reporter Tara Moriarty.