DES MOINES, Iowa — As the Iowa women's basketball team captured the hearts and attention of fans across the state, local Hawkeye lovers flocked to local restaurants and businesses in support.
Businesses started to realize, if Caitlin Clark was going to be playing, they needed to be prepared for the increased foot traffic.
"You can just feel the buildup," said Nick Kuhn, owner of The Hall DSM. "We just knew, Iowa game tonight, we're gonna get killed."
Each game the Hawkeyes played in, more people continued to show up — proving the 'Caitlin Clark Effect' real.
"I did go back to previous years and look at the tournaments," Kuhn said. "And this is the strongest tournament we've ever had in terms of our retail sales."
Kuhn says sales were up over 80% throughout the weekend the Hawkeyes played in the Final Four and National Championship. He owns four different businesses in Iowa, and Kuhn says all of them reached maximum capacity.
"There were definitely bigger crowds," he said. "The crowds were bigger, the excitement was just greater."
In addition to maxing out restaurants and bars, Clark's brand is also booming. The Rookie Sports Cards has seen sales increase over the past two years for her player trading card.
"Its been going on for a couple of years now, and we've had hundreds of people come in looking for Caitlin Clark cards. It's pretty unreal," said Anders Olson, The Rookie owner.
Olson says they sell multiple Clark cards every day, and it is hard to predict how long they will last because they're in such high demand.
Businesses have learned it's an all-hands-on deck effort when Clark and the Hawkeyes are on the clock.
"With the tournament, to be honest, in the last eight years, we've never felt anything like it," Kuhn said. "And I attribute it all to the Hawkeyes."
Businesses are looking forward to hopefully see similar turnouts when Clark takes her talents to the WNBA.