PITTSBURGH — Soggy, shoe-stained yellow confetti still littered the streets, and fans had that sleepless glaze in their eyes, but they still lined up Monday — many as early as 6 a.m. — to stock up on the latest Steelers gear after their team clinched a history-making sixth title in Super Bowl XLIII.

People came out in droves a day after the team's victory, some spending hundreds of dollars, to snatch up anything from black-and-gold underwear and scarves to coasters and even bibs for the youngest fans in the Steeler nation.

In this former industrial city in western Pennsylvania, experiencing a resurgence after years of decline, some things trump the worst economic conditions — and that something is the Steelers.

"In the '70s, when the steel mills closed, all this city had was the Steelers," recalled Jim Coen, 49, owner of Yinzers In The 'Burgh, a store in the trendy Strip District that specializes in anything Steelers- and Pittsburgh-related.

"When things were tough, they had the Steelers, and that's true today also," Coen said, his fist clenched around a wad of money as about a half-dozen of his employees sold Super Bowl T-shirts and Terrible Towels, many still warm from the printing press.

Coen would not give any sales figures but said that in 2006, the last time the Steelers won the Super Bowl, he made in a month what he had made annually at a previous job that paid about $60,000 a year. This year, after the Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23, he is selling T-shirts for $6 to $25.

Coen expects to make 30 percent less than in 2006, though he doesn't attribute the drop to the economy, but instead to the proximity to the previous victory. People went crazy last time, he said, because the Steelers hadn't won a title in 25 years.

Meanwhile, Dick's Sporting Goods opened its 13 Pittsburgh stores immediately after the game ended. By 2 a.m. they had closed, but reopened Monday morning at 6 a.m.

Judging by sales estimates from 2006, fans were expected to spend about $2.4 million during the weekend on hotel rooms and meals before picking up Steelers gear, said Craig Davis, vice president of sales and marketing for VisitPittsburgh, the city's tourism group.

"In Pittsburgh, you walk down the street and you see little old ladies wearing Steelers shirts. You don't see that anywhere else," Davis said.