“If the Saints win the Super Bowl do I have to go to school?” Alex McDougal asked as he peered around a rack of NFC Champions T-shirts at the Black and Gold Sports Shop in Covington.

“Not if but when the Saints win the Super Bowl,” his mother, Annette McDougal, corrected.

“OK, when the Saints win the Super Bowl do I have to go to school?” young Alex rephrased his question.

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“Yes,” he mother said, without missing a beat.

The short conversation between mother and son brought about a lot of laughter from shoppers in the crowded store.

The McDougals were among the many shoppers Monday hoping to snag themselves some Saints gear as the New Orleans team prepares to head to Miami to play in XLIV Super Bowl against the Indianapolis Colts on Feb. 7.

Store manager Norman Hansen said the Saints gear has been flying off the shelves of his store long before the team even made the playoffs.

“We’ve been selling nothing but Saints – women’s T-shirts, hats, apparel,” he said.

Hansen said he has routinely sold out of many items and had to reorder in the last couple of weeks.

He said sales were brisk the days just prior to Sunday evening’s championship games, with a lot of people looking for T-shirts and jerseys.

Instead of opening up the store late Sunday night to sell championship T-shirts, Hansen said he opted to stay home, enjoy the game and ultimately savor the win.

When he showed up to open the store’s doors at 8 a.m. Monday morning, there were more than 50 people waiting in line outside the store.

Everyone was looking for the same thing, the coveted T-shirts proclaiming their team NFC Champions.

As of 4 p.m. Monday afternoon, Hansen had already received and sold out of six shipments of the T-shirts and he was expecting a seventh shipment within the next hour.

He said the crowd had been steady all day.

Kasey Fandal was making her second trip of the day and still unable to find her size; she planned to return again. Earlier in the day her husband was able to find his size and buy a T-shirt, but Fandal said she still needed hers.

Mary Green was shopping for Saints attire to send to her daughter who lives in Connecticut.

She was also picking up a shirt for her daughter’s boyfriend, who she said is diehard Patriots fan. She added that when the Patriots got knocked out of the running in the first round of the play-offs, he converted to a Saints fan, and Green is trying to encourage his conversion.

John Ventura passed up the rack of T-shirts but purchased several golf shirts for some of his friends, who happen to be Vikings fans. Ventura said he planned to play golf with his buddies between now and the Super Bowl and he wanted to be able to provide them with the shirts as well as some good-natured ribbing.

Hansen said he will continue to restock the T-shirts and other gear as it sells up until the Super Bowl. At which time he said, he “WILL” be stocking T-shirts proclaiming the Saints Super Bowl Champions.