CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – One day after the official drop of Charlotte FC’s new community kit, a crowd of fans was waiting in line at the team store to get their hands on one.

“At first, when I heard that it was purple, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I love it,'” said Charlotte FC fan Catherine Webber. “People said it would look like a pop tart, but in person, it’s gorgeous.”

“Our community kit, for us, is an opportunity for us to be a little bold to play with new color waves,” said chief fan officer Shawn McIntosh. “We’ve got such an incredible identity that I think lends us an opportunity to get creative.”

Inside the Team Store Thursday, the new community kits were accompanied by another wave of purple apparel designed and created by the locally-owned shop 704.

The South End Store is an official partner with Charlotte FC.

“We are pretty excited,” co-owner Christopher Moxley said. “It takes a village to support small business, so when you have a major league sports team when you have mega enterprises of that magnitude pouring into small businesses, there is a ripple effect.”

If it’s not a major league sports team partnering with Charlotte shops, it’s players like Brant Bronico.

Glory Days apparel recently released new shirts with the Charlotte FC player featured on them.

“All of the details, just hiding a bunch of stuff like the axe for UNC-C where he went to school,” said JD Harris, owner of Glory Days Apparel.

Last year, Harris saw the impact of the excitement surrounding Charlotte soccer. Before each drop, he saw a line of people waiting to purchase his product.

“You know, last year, we had a big year as far as what we created and how the fans supported us, so we knew we had big shoes to fill again this year,” Harris said. “We want to try to exceed that again.”

“We are really excited with what people thought was an incredible show last year just to do something even bigger and better this year,” McIntosh said.