AThe Minneapolis Star Minneapolis, Minnesota Tuesday, July 18, 1972 - Page 23
Bobby and Boris 'Show' Booms Chess-Sets Sales by John Greenwald
Twin Cities retailers say chess sets usually sell best during Christmas, along with checkers, Monopoly, and other board games.
But the Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky championship match seems to have caused an out-of-season run on chess sets in some stores.
“We're almost sold out of sets,” said Arvilla Ohlgren, stationery department buyer for Powers Department Store on Nicollet Mall.
Mrs. Ohlgren said the added sales probably are due to public interest in the 24-game Spassky-Fischer match being held in Reykjavik, Iceland.
One set the store has had some trouble moving is a collection of pieces assembled by hand from nuts and bolts. The pieces have a $36 price tag.
Mrs. Ohlgren said the maker, a Minneapolis woman, wanted $18 for the set.
“Since we're a retail operation we marked it up to twice that,” Mrs. Ohlgren said.
“The maker has different kinds of handmade sets at home, but so far we haven't been able to sell this one.”
She said the nuts-and-bolts collection went on display about a month ago, and is one of the few chess sets Powers has available.
Bobby and Boris 'show' booms chess-sets sales 18 Jul 1972, Tue The Minneapolis Star (Minneapolis, Minnesota) Newspapers.com
