Kicks Boomin co-owners Alexander Sam and Thomas Vu. (Courtesy of Thomas Vu)
After four years devoted to e-commerce, an online sneaker reseller is trying a Broad Street storefront on for size.
Kicks Boomin, which buys and sells collectible sneakers, shirts and accessories, plans to enter the world of brick-and-mortar retail with a store at 914 W. Broad St. in the first week of December.
The company is owned by Alexander Sam and Thomas Vu. Sam founded the company while in middle school, and Vu previously worked at local streetwear retailer Round Two, which closed its nearby shop earlier this year.
Sam and Vu hope to capture some VCU foot traffic with their new location near campus.
“That’s an ideal location because of how close it is to VCU and that student foot traffic,” Vu said of their new shop.
Kicks Boomin plans to open at 914 W. Broad St. in early December. (Jack Jacobs photo)
The store will occupy a 1,600-square-foot space and the plan is to have five employees on opening day.
The move to open a physical store is a bid to create a more experiential buying process for customers, Sam said.
“It’s to bring the experience of streetwear culture into Richmond,” he said.
The company’s inventory includes a pair of Jordan sneakers priced at $2,000, a pre-owned $1,000 pair of Nikes that pay homage to Marty McFly of the “Back to the Future” film trilogy and a handful of other shoes that range from around $100 to around $600.
Vu and Sam are neighbors. After Vu lost his job at The Gallery by Round Two when it closed this summer in the wake of protests that led to damage and looting in the surrounding neighborhood — including to Round Two’s store — the two decided to work together to bring a brick-and-mortar element to Kicks Boomin.
“(Round Two) was kind of a pioneer of that buying and selling (of sneakers) but with the looting that happened and the owners’ decision to not bring it back, I needed something to do,” Vu said.
Round Two didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. Its storefront at 202 W. Broad St. hasn’t reopened since closing during the protests this summer. The company, which also has locations in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Miami, doesn’t list a Richmond location on its website.
Kicks Boomin co-owners Alexander Sam and Thomas Vu. (Courtesy of Thomas Vu)
After four years devoted to e-commerce, an online sneaker reseller is trying a Broad Street storefront on for size.
Kicks Boomin, which buys and sells collectible sneakers, shirts and accessories, plans to enter the world of brick-and-mortar retail with a store at 914 W. Broad St. in the first week of December.
The company is owned by Alexander Sam and Thomas Vu. Sam founded the company while in middle school, and Vu previously worked at local streetwear retailer Round Two, which closed its nearby shop earlier this year.
Sam and Vu hope to capture some VCU foot traffic with their new location near campus.
“That’s an ideal location because of how close it is to VCU and that student foot traffic,” Vu said of their new shop.
Kicks Boomin plans to open at 914 W. Broad St. in early December. (Jack Jacobs photo)
The store will occupy a 1,600-square-foot space and the plan is to have five employees on opening day.
The move to open a physical store is a bid to create a more experiential buying process for customers, Sam said.
“It’s to bring the experience of streetwear culture into Richmond,” he said.
The company’s inventory includes a pair of Jordan sneakers priced at $2,000, a pre-owned $1,000 pair of Nikes that pay homage to Marty McFly of the “Back to the Future” film trilogy and a handful of other shoes that range from around $100 to around $600.
Vu and Sam are neighbors. After Vu lost his job at The Gallery by Round Two when it closed this summer in the wake of protests that led to damage and looting in the surrounding neighborhood — including to Round Two’s store — the two decided to work together to bring a brick-and-mortar element to Kicks Boomin.
“(Round Two) was kind of a pioneer of that buying and selling (of sneakers) but with the looting that happened and the owners’ decision to not bring it back, I needed something to do,” Vu said.
Round Two didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. Its storefront at 202 W. Broad St. hasn’t reopened since closing during the protests this summer. The company, which also has locations in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Miami, doesn’t list a Richmond location on its website.
Good luck to the guys. The location is probably a better fit closer to VCU since most of the Arts District still looks like the riot was last night. Several buildings past Belvidere still boarded, or broken windows, or graffiti tags abound. At least Carytown (even vacant spaces like Need and Ruth & Ollie buildings) have been cleaned and windows fixed. Tavenner and Beran law office (and others) continued to have phone and cable wires cut.
It’s a leap of faith to open anything on Broad right now…best of luck.