We’ve all heard stories about how someone gets a clean cop at a stupid low price. We almost don’t believe it, and then we may immediately resort to looking at said kicks to make sure that they aren’t fugazi. Because how else do they get those kicks for the low? A plug? Perhaps. StockX? Maybe. Flight Club? No chance in hell. Unsurprisingly, you are surprised when homie tells you neither one. So, how did they find them?
For anyone willing to swallow their pride and save money (because there is nothing wrong with it), a discount department store is the answer. Remember when Complex ran a story about this some time ago? Some lucky dude found some Fragment x Air Jordan I’s at Marshall’s. I wish I was finding some heat like that. That’s not to say I haven’t found some sneakers for a bargain. I most definitely have. Matter of fact, I started playing the proverbial discount store sneaker lottery back in 2011. I was in a Marshall’s back home in Dallas when I found some Adidas NZA Shell Mids (a very obscure Adidas shoe, I’m aware). When I look up the shoe online today, I still got them for cheaper in that store. Some number of weeks later, I saw some Nike Air Flight Classics. I didn’t cop those, however, because I was only in high school and didn’t have a whole lot of money, even to be flexing in Marshall’s.
6 years have passed since then, and I still poke around for some bargain grails. And why not? I’m saving a pretty penny here and there. In the words of the late and great Guru of Gang Starr: “there is no shame in my game.”
Now are you guaranteed to find an Air Jordan silhouette or a banger from Adidas every time you pull up to a discount department store? Absolutely not. But the chance is still there. And before you turn your nose at the idea of looking inside said stores for some discount heat, consider this: finding a pair in one of these sores is not much different from that of the sale tables or shelves of a sneaker store or boutique like Shoe Palace or Nice Kicks, Foot Locker, etc. The only real difference is that the latter set of stores may cost a little more. You’re still bound to run into outlandish colorways and silhouettes that nobody bought. Finding that one dope discounted pair that catches your eye is just as much a challenge in Shoe Palace as it is Ross. But, you’d be more drawn to the former because it’s an actual sneaker store, whereas, you may not have any need to walk in Ross otherwise.
Of course, you will ALWAYS find something in a sneaker boutique. But the next time you come a TJ Maxx, Ross, or Marshall’s, go on inside. You just might find some fire on the shoe racks. And as an added bonus, nobody will really know where you got it from, unless you tell them. Who knows, you may put your friends on a new wave. Hopefully this post put you on one.
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