Barack Obama Memorabilia Rush Ahead of Inauguration
By James Butty Washington, DC 20 January 2009
As America inaugurates Barack Obama Tuesday as the nation's first black president, the hundreds of thousands of people that came to the nation's capital to be a part
of the historic occasion have been purchasing a lot of Obama memorabilia.
Kenyan-born Mukami Mugo and owner of Simba Music Store in Langley Park, Maryland,told VOA Obama memorabilia have become a kind of economic stimulus for her store.
"We
have the watches, the key holders; by the way we have beautiful earrings with
Obama on them. The T-shirts have been constant because people send them to
their relatives in Africa and Obama portraits are doing very well," she said.
Mugo
said Obama music CDs have already been produced by various artists and also
selling fast.
"We
have a number Obama CDS in Reggae by Coco Tea; we have Kenyan music Onyango,
and we also have Swahili by Samba Mapangala, and actually we do also have Soca
Music on Obama," she said.
She
said Obama memorabilia have become an economic stimulus for many retailers.
Mugo
also said her store is selling African kanga or lappa with Obama's picture and Obama's
campaign slogan "Yes We Can".
She
said most people who come to her store are looking for the video of Obama's visit
to Africa and his native Kenya as a U.S. senator.
"He
went to Kenya and other African countries. That's one of the most popular DVDs
that we have. Anybody who comes in here and sees it and they didn't know it was
in existence, they see it and they have to have it. Right now we are out of it,
but we hope to have some next week," Mugo said.
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