As Trump’s popularity slides, his merchandise stores are closing down

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Knoxville, Tennessee: The sign is hard to miss as you drive along the Interstate 40 leaving Knoxville. “Trump Superstore”, it booms. “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS.” Everything store wide: 50 per cent off.

I had heard about these places – great temples to Donald Trump, packed with merchandise and paraphernalia – but had never been inside one. Trump merch is usually sold by hawkers outside Republican events; this was a bricks-and-mortar shop, albeit on the barren side of a highway.

The range of gear is certainly broad. Caps feature phrases such as “Trump 2028”, “Make America Charlie Kirk” and “Relax, It’s Just A Red Hat”. Several T-shirts announce their wearer is proudly voting for a convicted felon. There are Trump baby clothes, fake Trump cash, Donald and Melania bobble-head dolls, beer holders and more.

There are also some pretty spicy items condemning Democrat Joe Biden, America’s 46th president. “I could shit a better president,” one cap says. Another says, simply: “86 46″. (“86” is a slang term in restaurants for getting rid of something, and some say that in mob lingo, it means to kill someone.)

Behind the cash register, I meet Sharon Huskisson, who started working here when the store opened on April 1, 2024. It’s owned by her 80-year-old neighbour, Bill Hays, who offered her the job.

“I said, ‘Oh, that sounds interesting’. And, of course, I love Trump, so why wouldn’t I,” Huskisson says. “It’s been a big, wonderful ride for the last 2½ years, meeting some really cool, neat people, and everybody is of the same mindset.” She pauses. “We have a few of them that are not. But we tolerate them.”

Huskisson says the Trump Superstore was packed as soon as it opened, through to the 2024 election, and past Trump’s inauguration.

“It was hard to even get in here. People were lining up all the way to the parking lot. When two left, we let two more in … It was amazing, we were like little creatures running around just trying to appease everybody.”

It’s evident that’s no longer the case. Only three customers appear during my hour-long visit – including a local couple, Karyn and Bill Robbins, who are adding more T-shirts and stickers to their substantial stocks of Trump gear.

“We love to wear our shirts and hats out everywhere, showing our support for the president and for his cabinet,” says Karyn, 58. “I love everything he does. He is thinking about America. And they can say all the bad things they want about him, but if you look, he is doing great things for America. You just have to look at what he’s doing, and have your eyes open.”

Later, a woman enters the store and quickly buys a large “Gulf of America” flag, celebrating Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico early in his second term.

This store is not the only one that’s closing down. Trump Town USA in Boones Mill, Virginia, is shutting down, with The Wall Street Journal reporting its sales were just a 10th of what they were in 2024. A store in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, closed its doors in July after six years. Another in Manchester, Tennessee, has also wound down.

When I ask Huskisson why the Knoxville store is closing, she puts it diplomatically. “I think everything runs its course. It’s not anything against Trump or anybody else. It’s just all good things come to an end.”

The owner, Bill Hays, was more forthright when he spoke to The Daily Beast last month: “Lack of business.”

Polls indicate that Trump is an unpopular president conducting an unpopular war – resulting in higher petrol prices, which are also, obviously, unpopular.

But that sentiment is not uniform across the country. In red states such as Tennessee, Trump-backed candidates have broadly been winning their primary races. His star may be waning in swing states, but in the heartland, Trump is still a force to be reckoned with.

“I think we’re all still behind him,” Huskisson says. “Something like [the Iran war] takes time. And he is a great negotiator. I hate wars, but they’re inevitable sometimes.

“You know, when you elect somebody, you elect them under the faith that they’re going to do the best for the country, and you just have to let them work at it.”

Before I leave, I ask Huskisson about the “86 46” caps regarding Joe Biden. She laughs and shrugs. But don’t they encourage violence against an American president?