Connell Sanders

CONNELL SANDERS Beyond sneakerheads, or why recommerce is the retail grail

SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

While a record number of large retailers close their doors to pivot toward online platforms, luxury resellers — once relegated to the web — are pouncing on the opportunity to create unique in-person experiences for shoppers. Many of them are taking advantage of this moment to open brick-and-mortar locations for the very first time.

Take, for example, the largest reseller of Hermès Birkin bags — Privé Porter. The company opened its first storefront this week where cult followers including Kris Jenner, Cardi B and Paris Hilton can request a branded Bentley for door-to-door service at their Miami shop.

Used goods are dripping and landlords are clamoring to fill empty spaces. Consignment speaks to the environmental values of Generation Z in addition to a larger shift toward deliberate shopping in the COVID era.

Here in Worcester, when we say “luxury resale,” we’re talking deadstock, grails and colorways. We are a sneaker city. We’ve got sole.

You can’t raise Worcester’s sneaker scene without mentioning Dee Wells, the legendary “kickstorian,” photographer and film producer who lives right here in our fair city. Wells founded the “Obsessive Sneaker Disorder Talk Show” in 2007 after a three-year stint at Sole Collector Magazine, the leading news source for sneakerheads. His dedication to footwear has paved the way for Worcester’s rich sneaker culture, which lives on in a new generation.

Vaughn Slowaski was born and raised on Providence Street, just up the hill from his new shop, Scoop Drip.

“Sneakers were my hobby and my passion as a youth and I just stuck with it,” Slowaski explained, “I got a factory job at night, and I just kept buying sneakers every week until I had a couple hundred pairs in my closet. I didn’t wear them and eventually, I decided, ‘Why not open a store with them instead of letting them sit here?’”

Slowaski was tired of working long nights; he decided to take control of his own destiny. While the pandemic was decimating many small business owners, he watched the resale business soar. The sneaker community had always thrived on flipping shoes, but a combination of environmental dread and economic collapse had erased any semblance of second-hand stigma for the mainstream market.

Slowaski saw an opportunity. “It was now or never and I decided, ‘Why not? I might as well take a crazy chance in a crazy time,’” he said.

Scoop Drip opened in September to overwhelming support from the community, including Slowaski’s landlord. “When the world started getting weird and things started getting crazy, he came to us and actually said, ‘Look, I don’t want to kill you guys. I know you haven’t even opened yet. I want to just make this work.’” He gave Slowaski a break on rent to keep the dream alive, and

Vaughn Slowaski was born and raised on Providence Street, just up the hill from his new shop, Scoop Drip. Scoop Drip sells exclusive sneakers, snacks and streetwear.

SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

the result has been a thriving new business on Millbury Street.

Slowaski wants local youth to feel like they have somewhere to go to talk sneakers. He hopes to add more apparel, more shoes and more “crazy snacks” from all over the world. The snacks are no joke. In addition to a Supreme Oreos haul, Scoop Drip offers a wide variety of exclusive international Lays, Cheetos and Doritos that have become a popular fixture at sneaker conventions.

As for Slowaski’s post-pandemic wish list, it’s all about the shoes. “I want to find a deadstock pair of Jordan 18’s from ‘03 when he made his last comeback,” he explained. For context, the Air Jordan 18 (XVIII) OG was the first pair of sneakers Slowaski ever bought with his own money. “I worked hard, hard, hard for them,” he remembers, “it’s just a personal thing. That’s my overall grail.”

Is recommerce Worcester’s overall grail? We’re a city with great bones known for repurposing and rejuvenating old mills and factories into apartments and art galleries. We’re already home to antique and consignment hubs like Crompton Collective, Sweet Janes, Grime, Modern Muse and Alexis Grace. We don’t need Bentleys or celebrity sightings to fuel our spending. We just need more sneakerheads with big ambition energy. Scoop Drip is only the beginning.

Thank you to Worcester’s latest podcast, Food & Convo, for my intro to Scoop Drip. Find them on apple podcasts and Spotify for more recommendations.