Photo courtesy of Homewood Chamber of commerce
The Knight family poses at the celebration for Bandwagon being named Alabama’s 2024 Gee Emerging Retailers of the Year.
Leah and David Knight, owners of Homewood-based Bandwagon, were named Alabama’s 2024 Gee Emerging Retailers of the Year on Sept. 20.
Opened in 2021, the sports boutique specializes in custom community apparel and lifestyle apparel for all ages. It caters to teams of all ages and has locations in Homewood, Vestavia Hills and Madison, Miss.
“We have devoted ourselves to serving our community through our customers,” said the Knights, who are Homewood residents. “Living in the community we serve has given us the opportunity to give back through Bandwagon.”
Shay Gartman, executive director of Homewood Chamber of Commerce, who nominated the Knights for the award, said, “Bandwagon has quickly become one of the Birmingham area’s premier spots for sporting gear, equipment and school spirit apparel. Their staff is renowned for being highly knowledgeable about what is needed for the different teams in the area.”
In their Retailer of the Year entry, the Knights wrote, “We are constantly working to increase our community partnerships to benefit our community, while also improving our success.” Bandwagon saw a 25% increase in revenue from 2022 to 2023 and continually looks for ways to improve, such as implementing pop-up shops and a merchandising truck to advance its business performance, the entry states.
In 2024, Bandwagon moved its Homewood store from downtown to the business district of the nearby Edgewood neighborhood, which the Knights say has broadened its “brand recognition thanks to the number of customers dining in the Edgewood area each day.”
Bandwagon’s “projected growth for years to come” impressed the former Retailers of the Year who judged the emerging category. “Bandwagon is the reason why local retailers, if they recognize and focus on the importance of community, will always triumph over national chains,” one judge said. Bandwagon “focuses on all ages of their local consumer, meets them where they are with pop-up shops at schools and community events and gives back with more than $50,000 in donations to those same schools through sponsorships and fundraising drives.”
Having “active social media accounts that focus on the local customer and teams, plus their creativity on their website, setting up team-specific shops, showcases their true understanding of their local community,” the judge added.
In a letter supporting Bandwagon as Emerging Retailer of the Year, Brad Tew, division manager of Brasfield Gorrie, wrote, “Bandwagon has embraced shopping local and captured the attention of our local communities through building relationships. Small business growth is at the core of our economy, and there’s no better representative of that than Bandwagon Sports.”
In their entry, the Knights said they “support local efforts to build bonds among retailers” through memberships in the Homewood, Vestavia Hills and Mountain Brook chambers of commerce as well as the Cahaba Heights Merchants Association. Career days Bandwagon hosts at local schools also demonstrates Bandwagon’s commitment to the retail industry.
The Gee Emerging Retailer of the Year Award is named in memory of the late Morris “Mickey” Gee, a former Alabama Retail board member and University of Alabama at Birmingham professor. The annual award goes to an innovative and effective Alabama retailer who has been in business for at least two years, but less than five. Gee, who owned the Pants Store for more than 30 years, realized that the first five years are tough, but young businesses can have a huge impact.
Bandwagon is one of five businesses in four categories honored as the 2024 Retailers of the Year by the Alabama Retail Association. It is one of two businesses recognized this year as Emerging Retailer of the Year.
“Leah and David Knight are Retailers of the Year every year to Bandwagon’s customers, its 10 Alabama employees and the Homewood, Vestavia Hills and greater Birmingham communities,” said Alabama Retail Association President Rick Brown.
