Why barter with other sneaker heads on eBay.com for bootleg Jordans when you can get the real thing for $15,000 at a pawn shop that deals in throwback kicks? The president’s teenage daughter collects a paycheck fetching coffee and dry cleaning for the staff over at CBS, but one enterprising 16-year-old has found the perfect niche: a sneaker pawn shop.
“Young kids don’t have jewelry. They don’t have cars, but what they do have is the thousands of dollars worth of sneakers in their house,” said Troy Reed, father of Chase “Sneakers” Reed, who opened the first pawn shop for high end sneakers in the country.
From The NY Post:
Chase, a 10th-grader at Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem, still marvels over pictures of the freshest sneaker designs online and waits in line for hours to add to his collection. Only now he and his father are also getting them from fellow “investors” who want quick cash.
They have all sorts of reasons for selling short. One pawned fancy footwear to pay for his brother’s funeral. Two teen girls liquidated their sneakers to pay for prom dresses. Another savvy investor flipped a pair of LeBron Crown Jewels and two pairs of Jordans and used the thousands in profit to pay for his move to The Bronx from Brooklyn.
The store’s priciest pawned pairs so far — those Crown Jewels — are commanding $1,400, more than five times the $270 sticker price.
“I don’t look at it like a business. It’s what I do. It’s what I breathe,” said Chase. “It’s an idea that’s right in front of your face. It’s just about bringing the idea to life.” READ MORE
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