Stadium Goods, the online sneaker-consignment store, is now open for business, with a brick-and-mortar storefront in the heart of NYC’s SoHo neighborhood set to open on Oct. 16.
The store — with separate entrances for sellers and consumers — has more than 3,000 square feet of retail space and boasts some of the rarest, hardest-to-find sneakers from brands including Nike, Adidas, Jordan, Supreme, Converse, Asics and more. Stadium Goods is led by co-founders John McPheters and Jed Stiller, and SneakerCon creator Yu-Ming Wu is coming aboard as chief marketing officer.
“There’s a big gap in the retail space right now,” McPheters said. “You’ve got standard, traditional retail stores that have great customer service but don’t have the selection and breadth of something that may be consignment-based, and you have consignment stores that have that breadth but don’t have that premium level of service. For us, customer service, consumer education in terms of what the product is and why it comes at a high price point are things we’re building our philosophy around — and making the consumer experience as easy as possible.”
According to Wu, Stadium Goods is a forum for sellers and buyers alike to be at ease in the buying process.
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“On eBay, the seller is going to feel weird about selling because they’re selling to someone he doesn’t know, and the buyer is going to feel weird about buying from the seller because they don’t really know each other,” he said. “Here, we’re the middle person that helps ease that confusion and ease that anxiety over whether it’s fake, whether it’s a fraud of any sort.”
The store will offer desktop- and mobile-enabled e-commerce, the option to purchase online with in-store pickup, a specific location for shoes to be dropped off and authenticated, a concierge service for VIP customers and online scheduling of consignment appointments as well as an online hub for remote consignment support.
Stadium Goods currently houses roughly 3,000 styles of shoes, with full-size runs for a majority of the sneakers featured on the store’s walls. McPheters and Wu said they’ve been compiling the inventory from collectors since February — from celebrity sneakerheads with large collections to people selling one pair at a time.
The Stadium Goods website, stadiumgoods.com, is up and running now. The retail store is located at 47 Howard Street in NYC, and the market center is at 305 Canal Street. Both the retail store and the market center will be open seven days a week, from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
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