With football season well under way, it’s not surprising to see that innovative retailers have popped up to sell pigskin-related merchandise to eager fans. I knew that tailgaters were a big group, but had no idea they were so big as to have their own website, tailgating.com, which sells parking lot goodies like portable grills and fold-up bench seats.

According to the site, tailgaters are a lucrative market, with about 42% saying they spend more than $500 on food and supplies annually, and 46% saying they tailgate six to 10 times a season. Numbers like that convinced two Roanoke, Virginia, entrepreneurs to invest in a shopping mall cart to sell T-shirts, pennants and other fan gear for their state’s teams. The concept took and they were able to move into a larger temporary store during the holiday shopping season, this article on Roanoke.com says.

The owners of Tailgaters United are in an even larger store now. It’s a part-time labor of love because both still work full time for large national retailers. They want to expand by offering high school gear as well.

This is another example of how people with retail in their blood figured out a way to create a niche business involving their passion. If you’ve a burning desire to enter the trade, consider starting small at a cart. My niece, who worked off and on for years as a barista, learned that the municipal library in her town wanted to subsidize a coffee and pastry cart for patrons. Drawing on her experience, she submitted a proposal and earned the contract. Now she’s putting all that good experience to great use and learning more than ever about how to run a retail business.

What’s your passion? Whether you find it at a tailgate party or a in a coffee cart, there are plenty of possibilities out there for you to take the ball and run with it. And hopefully, like my niece, run it in the black.