Let’s Go Brandon Store in Toms River Changes from Biden to Harris

TOMS RIVER, N.J. — The “Let’s Go Brandon” store near the Jersey Shore continues to do well: Trump mugs, Trump-Vance flags, Trump poker chips, Trump T-shirts, Trump birthday pop-ups and “Trump Hair” cotton candy. Since the assassination of the former president, the store has stamped everything from blankets to magnets with images of Trump brashly pumping his fist in the air.

Products that ridicule the opposition are selling worse because the store, like the Republican Party as a whole, is in the midst of a marketing pivot after the main object of its scorn, President Joe Biden, decided to drop out of the presidential race. Let’s go Brandonwhich opened in Toms River in 2022, takes its name from conservative shortcut for the phrase “F— Joe Biden.”

Suddenly, a movement—and a market—built in part on mocking Biden’s words and actions must look for up-to-date lines of attack. Sure, the presidency is on the line. But so are the profits of every tiny shop selling hostile goods.

“I mean, we’re not buying any more of that ‘F— Biden’ because it’s gone,” said Greg Dooner, who manages the store. He said any leftover product will likely end up on the half-price shelf, where it will join the pink “DeSantis 2024: Make America Florida” hats.

”’F— Biden’ is great. It’s my favorite,” Dooner added ruefully, pointing to a bumper sticker with the phrase. “Maybe we’ll do one: F— Kamala and F— You For Voting for Her.”

Everyone is brainstorming. Anti-Biden merchants face the same dilemma as Donald Trump himself. The Republican candidate has been trying to figure out how to portray his likely up-to-date opponent, testing out derisive nicknames on the campaign trail.

He tried Biden’s “Cackling Co-Pilot” and “Laffin’ Kamala Harris,” both of which Harris laughs at. He repeated previous insults, such as “crooked” and “lying,” that he has used to define other politicians, The New York Times reported that. (In response, Harris said the insults Trump and Vance have hurled at her are “just weird.”)

Sometimes Trump just goes back to the old classics.

“Kamala, you’re fired!” he told supporters recently in Charlotte, North Carolina, echoing his renowned catchphrase from “The Apprentice” as the crowd cheered.

The Beginnings of “Let’s Go Brandon”

Let’s Go Brandon has long been a primitive crowd favorite. It dates back back to 2021when a winning NASCAR driver named Brandon Brown was being questioned by an NBC sports reporter in Alabama. It was hard to make out what the crowd behind him was chanting. The reporter suggested they might have been saying, “Let’s Go Brandon,” until it became clear they were saying, “F— Joe Biden.”

“It’s catchy. Everyone knew what it meant,” said Vincent Scuzzese, owner of Let’s Go Brandon. Several similar stores popped up around the country when the phrase was popular, including one with the same name in the Poconos, though it now operates under the more straightforward name “The Trump Store.” All are unrelated to Scuzzese’s.

In 2022, Scuzzese signed a five-year lease on a gadget store in a strip mall a few miles offshore, a bold bet on the joke’s longevity. (He also manages another long-standing entertainment business, he said.)

He has no plans to change the store’s name, at least until the election. “He’s still the president, right?” he asked. It’s not an official campaign store, though Scuzzese says he donates to the Trump campaign.

When he first started selling political merchandise in 2020, it was almost exclusively anti-Biden products because people wanted to buy them. Over the years, the proportion has changed, and now about 70 percent of the products are pro-Trump.

The doubling down on Trump delighted some customers. Lucy Capriglione, 70, called the store “my therapy.”

“It just relaxes me,” she said, pointing to Trump 2024 hats, “Fight Fight Fight” flags and stickers of Trump raising his middle fingers beneath the words “You Missed F—ers.”

She said she had invited Democrats over for dinner and planned to serve them Trump-branded chocolate and wine. Her only regret was that she didn’t have access to Trump-themed napkins, plates and cups.

“Do we have party supplies?” she asked the employee.

Axis of rotation

Five days after Biden announced he would not seek re-election, the Let’s Go Brandon store was still full of skateboards with the brand’s name on them, duct tape, flags and T-shirt stickers.

The problem wasn’t how quickly Scuzzese was able to introduce new products. (“[I’m] “Uncle Vinny, of course I do everything fast,” he said, explaining his supply chain.)

Rather, the store and the broader MAGA movement are still working on their craft. Two new Harris-themed T-shirts hung near the entrance, both featuring the Joker’s face superimposed over the vice president’s. One proclaimed “Let’s Go Brenda,” the other referred to Harris as “Gotham’s New Villain…Giggles.”

But Scuzzese’s heart wasn’t quite ready yet. Not like it was with Let’s Go Brandon.

“We don’t even know if she’s actually going to run, so we don’t know. So I don’t want to get into the details,” Scuzzese said. “Once we know she’s running, that’s a different story.”