The home of the Minnesota Timberwolves may bear the name of hometown retailer Target, but the arena never has featured any sort of store for the professional basketball team to sell its wares.

This fall, the National Basketball Association team and its WNBA sibling, the Minnesota Lynx, will open The Gym, a 1,000-square-foot pro shop in the Target Center near the skyway that leads to the new Block E entertainment and retail complex in downtown Minneapolis.

The Timberwolves are the last major league team in the Twin Cities to jump into the retailing game, which capitalizes on fans willing to spend big bucks to demonstrate their team loyalties. The Minnesota Twins organization is the local retail veteran, having opened its first Pro Shop in Roseville in 1990.

The Wolves' timing might be fortuitous: Sales of licensed sports merchandise rose 8 percent in 2002 after five years of declines, according to The Licensing Letter, a New York City-based trade publication. Overall, 2002 retail sales in the $71.5 billion licensed merchandise industry in the United States and Canada increased 2 percent from the previous year.