Scholars & Champs

Bert Aufsesser opened Scholars and Champs in 2019 with a simple idea: Syracuse deserves a shop built entirely around its own sports history and street culture, rather than a generic vintage rack that happens to carry a few Orange items. The store built its name on genuinely old Syracuse University athletic wear, hunting down decades-old football, basketball, and lacrosse gear alongside period pieces from Champion, Fila, Starter, and Nike, the kind of faded, oddly cut sweatshirts and jerseys that cannot be reproduced and have to be found one at a time. Around that vintage core, Scholars and Champs layers in new and custom apparel: contemporary t-shirts and hoodies, locally themed Central New York designs, and custom printed pieces made to order, plus branded merchandise from Syracuse institutions like Hungry Charleys and Cosmos that turns the shop into something closer to a running record of the citys food and sports culture than a standard clothing store. After several years operating downtown at 310 South Salina Street, the business relocated in August 2026 to 742 South Crouse Avenue, putting it directly in the foot traffic of the Syracuse University campus rather than the citys central business district, a move that reflects how tightly the shops identity is bound to the school and its fans. Shoppers browsing the racks will find gift cards available for Orange fans buying for out of town relatives, along with rotating drops the shop promotes through an active Instagram following of nearly 7,000 people and a similarly engaged Facebook page, both used to announce new vintage finds, restocks, and limited runs before they sell out. The shop has historically kept a Wednesday through Saturday schedule from late morning into early evening, with shorter Sunday hours in the afternoon and closures Monday and Tuesday, though given the recent move to the Crouse Avenue location, shoppers are encouraged to check the shops current social media or call ahead before making a special trip, since hours can shift around a relocation. The owner has also welcomed private appointments outside normal hours for collectors hunting a specific piece or size, a level of personal attention that separates a small, owner-run vintage shop from a big-box resale chain. What ties the whole inventory together is authenticity: rather than reprinting old logos onto new blanks, Scholars and Champs built its reputation on sourcing real, aged garments alongside new pieces designed with the same regional sensibility, so a customer can walk out with either a genuine relic of a specific Syracuse team era or a fresh piece that reads as a natural extension of that history. For alumni looking to relive a specific Final Four run, current students wanting something with more character than a bookstore hoodie, or longtime Central New York residents chasing a particular defunct restaurant logo, the shop functions as an informal archive as much as a retailer. Located now near the heart of the university campus after years downtown, Scholars and Champs remains, at its core, a Syracuse-born vintage and custom apparel shop where old Orange gear and new local designs share the same racks, curated by one owner who has spent years tracking down the pieces that tell the citys sports story best.