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DJ Don Cannon and skateboarder Stevie Williams teamed up to launch Sk8tique, a skate boutique in Atlanta's Little Five Points on October 17th.
Metromix has pics from the opening.
Nah Right has videos of The Cool Kids and Asher Roth.
The Wall St. Journal has been covering the bankruptcy of Steve & Barry's. Papers were filed on Wednesday.
An earlier report discussed the devastation ahead:
"A filing would be painful to mall owners across the country, who ponied up hundreds of millions of dollars to attract Steve and Barry's into huge, empty spaces, often as large as 100,000 square feet. Many, and potentially all of those 275 stores could close, say people familiar with the matter. As of January, the company had between 16,000 and 17,000 employees; most of those jobs will be eliminated, people familiar with the matter say. Some vendors have already stopped shipping to the company in anticipation of a filing."
That's really sad. In a different economic environment this might just lead to a reorganization but it sounds like total annhilation.
Get your Starbury's now!
Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Stephon Marbury's Starbury Collection
Atlanta's Earwax Records officially announces the closing of their physical location though they will continue online.
According to the NPD group iTunes is now the top U.S. music retailer.
That's a trip. When ProHipHop started in 2004 it seemed reasonable to have a digital music category. Now it's so much the norm that a category is somewhat redundant and was discontinued because it wasn't being updated.
MarketWatch's Andria Cheng Interviews Nike President Charlie Denson
Nike and Converse together under one roof. At last!
Nike and Foot Locker announced plans for up to 50 House of Hoops stores back in May to be opened over a three year period:
Foot Locker and Nike, the supplier of half of Foot Locker's shoes, are trying to spur sales of high-end basketball apparel at urban stores outside malls as customers buy more general-use sneakers instead of shoes for specific sports. Most of the basketball stores will be converted Foot Locker locations.
"These stores are too small to merchandise Foot Locker's entire offering, and they need to be upgraded," said John Shanley, a New York-based analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group. "It's a good way for Nike to keep competing brands out of the picture.
At about 2,100 square feet, the average U.S. Foot Locker store is about one-sixth the size of a typical Niketown store, which sells shoes and clothes at high-profile locations such as Chicago's Magnificent Mile and Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive.
Gino Green Global Tour Bus
New York-based streetwear company Gino Green Global is currently on a promotional tour of outlets for the brand with guest appearances by Tigger & Terrence of 106 & Park and Young Buck.
I would have caught the first in-store in Raleigh if I'd gotten the press release beforehand. Too bad cause we're not overrun by such events.
Am I just in another of my clueless states or is releasing The Best of NWA the day after Christmas really a bad move? I know it could be due to forces beyond their control and that maybe they're hoping to get an after Christmas shopping bonus but it just seems very ill-timed.
Coming Dec. 26th, released to miss the biggest shopping days of the year but just in time for New Year's gift giving:
The Best of N.W.A: The Strength of Street Knowledge
Too Short - Blow The Whistle
I just got off the phone with Darren Keast of the East Bay Express who's doing a piece about Too Short's in-store events for Remy Martin in East Bay liquor stores. He says it's a recent thing and that all the events have been in-stores in pretty rough neighborhoods.
They seem to have brought out a nice crowd for the in-store depicted in this promo video. It's a YouTube video and I'd be running it here if the embedding wasn't disabled. But, hey, that means you get to watch Blow The Whistle!
DJ Juice was on hand and Too Short did both a Remy Martin bottle signing (damn, I want one of those!) and a live performance. Nicely done.
Update:
Too Short In-store in Fort Worth, Texas
These brief clips at an in-store appearance in Fort Worth just don't hold a candle to that East Bay liquor store!
Dave Chappelle made a light night visit at the Hollywood Virgin Megastore at 12:01 am this morning, just as the new unrated dvd of Dave Chappelle's Block Party went on sale. I previously posted on some fun promotions for the dvd but this sequence with the kid says it all.
Marketing one's own product is a lot like running for political office:
Greet the baby.
Display the baby.
Sell stuff to the baby (mama).
Seriously, it's so good to see Dave back in action.
Thanks to Special Ops Media for the pics.
I've got a longer piece in progress about the marketing of Ice Cube's new album Laugh Now, Cry Later, but I want to go ahead and point to a couple of my favorite Westchester bloggers who recently posted about Ice Cube's in-store appearances.
As is often the case, Eskay was first up with a post on an in-store in Hollywood with photos via WireImage.
He also included a fun follow up that emphasizes Ice Cube's broad based appeal.
Rafi Kam followed with a pic of Ice Cube meeting Oh Word's Ice Cube tee at a New York in-store.
I recently received the Jackin' for Beats tee pictured above as a review item (one that I requested). I don't know what to say other than it's a cool shirt. And I look forward to wearing it out and about. And you should check out Slang Words: The Oh Word Store for more fun tees.
A Boston Herald article on in-store events in Boston doesn't shed any new ground * but makes the point that, "for rappers, the in-store is a fan-friendly medium between street corners and nightclubs." As one retailer put it, "We do it for the 18-and-under crowd, the people who don’t like clubs and the people who just don’t want to pay to get into clubs."
Though I tend to think about the artists when looking at in-stores, they're potentially a great way to promote your store and make it part of the community. Activities at Massive Records in Cambridge and UndergroundHipHop.com in the Back Bay were considered for the article.
[* "shed any new ground" WTF!?! Who wrote that?!?]]
The NY Times has a really odd piece about Blue & Cream, a hip hop influenced upscale clothing shop in the Hamptons. The name is said to be derived "from 'Glaciers of Ice,' a rap song by Raekwon, a founding member of Wu-Tang Clan. In it he describes customizing a pair of Clarks Wallabees with blue and cream paint, thereby rendering them wearable."
The clientele is described as "young, mostly wealthy, mostly white people" and the clothes are considered expensive though, with so-called hip hop fashions going upscale and constant reminders of how expensive everything surrounding Kimora Lee Simmons is, I don't really know how to judge what's considered expensive for hip hop. Except that I can't spend $400 on reissues of Nike's from the 80s. But don't sneaker nuts do stuff like that?
The author, Alex Kuczynski makes a big deal of the clients' whiteness and the fact that he overheard white people saying "dope" and "boom." Um, that's kind of old news, at least the use of the term dope is, everybody does it. Although the whiteness of hip hop fans is a popular topic right now which I'll soon be addressing, it must be noted that much of American slang now comes from black people and is taken up by everybody else.
That's called cultural influence. Giving white people a hard time for being influenced by black people is kind of bizarre, in my opinion. Having cultural influence is one way that an often oppressed minority group can have much more power than their numbers or political influence or financial resources would otherwise provide. But that's getting away from Alex's story and, really, the slight bit of cattiness is fairly common in fashion oriented writing, so that's cool.
To me it's not surprising to see upscale shops appropriate hip hop flavor, that's what upscale fashion does, translate the streets into something much pricier and less threatening. If you want to get into interesting stuff about white people and hip hop influence, let me tell you about years ago hearing my white suburban nephew drop "boo yaa" in a story or seeing his younger brother last Christmas dressed like a thug and my brother and his wife not even recognizing the stylistic influence. I tell you, he looked totally cool and I can't wait to see where he goes with it.
Official website: Blue & Cream.
Brita Brundage profiles the Kultjah Lab, a hip hop influenced boutique that includes batiked shirts in Norwalk, CT (I'm assuming the CT part, people don't put this stuff on their websites, cause nobody from out of state is supposed to be paying attention, right?). The owners/designers seem to go by only their first names, Jahmane, John and Jay and the Kultjah website doesn't give you much more info on who these folks are. In fact, the website doesn't even seem to mention their new store.
Apparently this is their third location in the Norwalk area, after initially selling directly to vendors that they met through street festivals in places like Philly and DC. So they've been in the game for quite a while, ever since the late 80s. Though they're open to working with folks to set up shops in select locations, they want to avoid the mass market approach taken by labels like FUBU who eventually faltered.
Their clothes are a fun mix of African and American influences though I'm not really a great judge of how well this sort of thing could do. And, like most of hip hop, they've got a Nike fetish. Actually, I could see this stuff going over well with jam band fans who follow the Dead or Phish (if they're still around), cause hippies love batik!
Marc Ecko Enterprises may be heading for a fall with blown deals and excessive expenditures. Although one of the deals that is no longer happening was with Eve's Fetish line, judging from the photo of Eve that accompanies the article at the moment, that may be for the best cause she is looking ridiculous.
Xzibit is endorsing a line of shoes for Dada Athletic Footwear.
Will Smith and Jay-Z recently announced that they were joining other celebs, including Steve Stoute who "spearheaded the venture," in investing in Carol's Daughter, a Brooklyn based cosmetics company. Plans are to take the store nationwide with Jada Pinkett-Smith as featured model who can already by seen on the Carol's Daughter website. Additional background and future plans are available from Black Enterprise.
Supposedly inspired in part by seeing 50 Cent wearing a diamond bracelet, designer Lucien Pellat-Finet visits Jacob the Jeweler and purchases a $26k bracelet with "630 square-cut diamonds, invisibly channel-set in platinum."
A NY Times piece on the Gap's experiments with celebrity endorsements includes a few comments by Steve Stoute and namechecks Reeboks' "I Am What I Am" campaign with Jay-Z and 50 Cent.
Ever wonder what Point of Sale and inventory control system a company like Sean John uses? Currently it's a customized solution from One Step Data.
I recently checked out Rasputin Music in San Francisco on Powell near Market. In fact, I'm going to start doing little field trip reports based on visits to a variety of Bay Area retail outlets. Rasputin Music is a small Bay Area indie record chain with 7 stores. The SF store has 3 stories on the corner of a block, although the second is really a small listening station with a translucent floor. Most of the cds are on the top floor and I'm pretty sure they had an elevator to get there.
This location had that indie rock dominated record store vibe that you'll get from shops around the country, particularly near college campuses, which was especially cool in an area known more for Nike Town and upscale shopping. In addition to a large rock section, most genres seemed to be represented, though I can't say for sure. However, the hip hop section was quite substantial and covered a full range from underground/indie artists like the Def Jux crew to highly commercial entertainers like Snoop Dogg. An interesting mixtape section also caught my eye.
But my initial impetus for writing was the Rasputin Manifesto, a store related music magazine. Since I'm writing about charts and awards, I've been keeping an eye out for unique sources. The December year-end issue of the Manifesto includes The Top 40 Records of 2004 with a number of different writers contributing the descriptions. I'm disappointed to not find it online. Maybe I missed it or maybe they'll add it later, but I'll hit the hip hop highlights.
Hip hop albums in the Rasputin Manifesto Top 40 Records of 2004:
1 - Kanye West, The College Dropout
6 - Dizzee Rascal, Showtime
7 - The Streets, A Grand Don't Come For Free
9 - Madvillain, Madvillainy
15 - Young Buck, Straight Outta Cashville
37 - Ghostface, The Pretty Toney Album
The Top 20 Singles of 2004 include:
2 - Jay-Z, 99 Problems
7 - Kanye West, All Falls Down
8 - Wiley, Pies
12 - T.I., Rubberband Man
13 - Dizzee Rascal, Dream
15 - Ciara/Petey Pablo, Goodies
17 - J-Kwon, Tipsy
20 - Terror Squad, Lean Back (Remix)
Note the high proportion of hip hop singles, 8 out of 20.
If your site has an alternative chart, best of list or staff picks list, please let me know. I can't promise to mention everybody but I'm very interested in such things, especially in charts that represent spins or sales.
Lola Ogunnaike has a really great profile of Nigo, the Japanese designer responsible for the unique fashion chain A Bathing Ape and a collaborator with Pharrell in Reebok's Ice Cream sneaker line. Jacob the Jeweler describes Nigo as one of his "favorite customers," even stating that:
"He is constantly challenging me to make newer, interesting things."
Though urban wear brands have become retail staples, recent sales have slipped as tastes shift from baggy to upscale. Hip hop related brands that have not adjusted are already falling behind.
The popularity of work clothes as a form of urban wear has inspired work wear chain Work 'N Gear to remodel and promote stores in order to attract Christmas traffic and a more youthful clientele.
Stuart Elliott examines trends in store design beginning with the Apple Store in SoHo (the San Francisco store is pretty cool too) and continuing with multiple examples including the Arnell Group's work with Reebok and with Jacob the Jeweler.
The success of temporary graffiti gift shop Santa's Ghetto ensured it's return to London for the current holiday season with an in-house bar, name brand graffiti artists and an even wider range of products.
Although this appears to be a new press release about old news, it's still significant that the Target holiday campaign, which began airing television spots in October, includes hip hop artist Twista and the Brothers Conti.
Grammy winning producer David Foster worked with artists from multiple genres to create unique renditions of Joy to the World. Participants will also be featured in print ads and on in-store signage.
One thing that undermines some of the music industries' claims about the effects of filesharing, are the effects of big box merchants like Target and Best Buy treating big releases as loss leaders, effectively reducing sales figures while undermining the efforts of smaller merchants.
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