The states of South Carolina, Virginia and North Carolina were quick in declaring that the Confederate flag should be removed from state offices, down to state-issued state license plates.
While top retailers that include Walmart, eBay and Amazon announced that they would stop selling Confederate flag merchandise, sales increased briskly and topped a 300 percent increase in the past three days, according to the Business Insider.
The Confederate flag is now at the center of a political and cultural debate since the South Carolina church massacre, but it sure has made some strong business for those who had been selling flags, bumper stickers, rings, belt buckles, bikinis and other forms of merchandise.
Walmart CEO Doug McMilon said in an interview with CNN that the management wanted people to feel comfortable shopping at their stores.
It would be more difficult to stop the sale of the merchandise, especially now that people are making money from it - especially in niche stores in the south - the publication said. In video footage taken by CNN, a niche seller in South Carolina sells his Confederate flag merchandise at no less than $25 a piece.
To Randy Burbage, spokesman of the Confederate Veterans, the Confederate flag is a symbol of pride and sacrifice for his family.
He told CNN that 16 of his ancestors fought and died for the Confederacy and he might not take down a cross-stitched and framed Confederacy flag in his office.
