Image via Complex Original
If you're a sneakerhead, you've dealt with all the bullshit that goes down at sneaker boutiques. Some of the stores are really great, but a lot of the struggle stores try and hype themselves up bigger than their rep dictates.
Of course, sneaker boutiques are cooler than your average retail chain mall store, but are all of them really that much better? A lot of the stores partake in suspect activities that we question everyt ime we shop there--from making us line up for damn near a week or just totally ignoring us when we step into the store, it's frustrating for people who just want to cop kicks. And we're saying all of this needs to stop now. There's no need to name names, you know who you are. Here are Things Sneaker Boutiques Do to Make You Think They're Cooler Than They Are.
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They wear their friends' brands just to make them look they're cool, when, in reality, they suck.
It's great to put on the homies. But it's also best to be honest with your friends when they make a clothing brand and it's garbage. Don't make people believe that their shitty T-shirt and snapback line is popping, and take it off your shelves. You'll be doing everyone a favor.
Hold V.I.P. events and toast to their success, but end up going out of business within the next year or so.
Sneaker boutiques are known for their parties that they throw every week or two to show how hard they're doing it. The sad part is, they're not celebrating much. Sure, you sold out of your Yeezys, but everyone can do that. If your shop is going out of business within a few years, you need to re-evaluate your business model.
Instagram the bluriest and corniest previews of sneaker releases that no one even cares about.
We tried to help you, really. But when you take shitty pictures of product nobody wants, you're just wasting everyone's time.
If you talk to an employee, they scoff and belittle you for not knowing something about a sneaker or release.
Can we live? It's bad enough sneakerheads can't actually like a sneaker on social media without being ridiculed. But when we step into a store, it's usually in hopes to make a purchase. Shop workers should be educating their customers on the product on the shelves. Making people feel like idiots for not "staying up" on things just makes them want to spend their money elsewhere.
The employees pretend that working at the store is like a secret society that outsiders would never understand.
We get it, you got a job at the must-visit sneaker store in the area. This doesn't make you cooler than anyone else, and it doesn't make you and the employees the covetable fraternity of sneakerheads and streetwear enthusiasts that you think you are.
The store is hidden in a secret location, because they feel it makes it more special.
People just want sneakers, they don't want to go on an urban safari just to find the secret sneaker hideout. We know that prime retail loations are fucking expensive. But if you intentionally put your store in the back of a warehouse where only the in-the-know kids can find it, then you're reaching too hard.
You ask for help, and they pretend they don't even hear you as they sit behind their Macbook screen and read Complex.
If you want a pair of sneakers, you just want the store's employees to help you. But when they're just sitting behind their laptop, reading the things we blog about all day, pretending to be important, it's detrimental to the shop's business. It also makes you think they're huge douchebags.
Shops swear that they've always been down with "other brands," but only stock their exclusive collaborations.
The coolest thing about sneaker culture these days is seeing lesser known brands get their shine. But when a shop claims they've always been down with a brand, and love their history, but have never sold the product in the store until something limited is released--you can easily call bullshit.
You feel like you're shopping in Beverly Hills, because you have to be rung into the store.
Bro, you own a sneaker boutique, not a high-end store where rich people shop. There's no need to rung in if you want to cop a pair of Nike Air Max 1s. This isn't a Chanel store, you sell Nikes, New Balances, and, if you're lucky, BBC.
They start line ups for sneakers more than a week in advance to build up hype.
Everyone just wants to get their sneakers without a hassle. It could be this simple, but boutiques actually want to build the hoopla around a sneaker release. If you make the customers wait for a week for their kicks or more, this means that only assholes without jobs can wait in line. If you're a functioning sneakerhead, this means you're missing out on the release or paying someone to wait in line for you. Whatever happened to the good old days?
