As previously mentioned in the comments (about two weeks ago), Urban Legends, which occupied the space previously held by Imagine U Unique, held a clearance sale. They have now vacated the space completely & a large lease sign hangs in place of the merchandise.
4 comments:
wow, that didn't last long.6 months?
Is the hip hop "look" dying? Too many places selling the same type of stuff to the same market? Has the market moved to PG? thoughts?
no, it's just harder to focus on a niche market. if you have a store that sells more general interest brands that can be worn by anyone 18-80, you're going to have more success than brands with a niche market aimed at 13-18 year old DC area youth. this type of store might thrive in a mall, but to expect kids to hop on the X2 to get DC-area brands is a stretch when they can go to the mall and buy MUCH more heavily marketed urban brands like G-Unit and Rocawear.
DTL/ Down Town Locker Room at 9th and H ,and Minn and Benning are doing very well. They sell Rocca Wear which is very popular, North Face, and tennis shoes. I work at a high school in VA. and the kids brag about their trip to DTL.Hip hop clothing is a growing market, however it is harder for urban stores to compete with large dept stores. Most hip hop clothes like Sean John can be bought in Macy's and Bloomingdale's. Sean Jean has a store on 5th ave down from Prada and Gucci. Also people from 13 to 40 are wearing it, the NBA and NFL stars live in it. Urban legends had a limited inventory and few major vendors.
yeah, but i don't think urban legend was selling rocawear, sean john or northface. they were selling local DC brands. as near as i can tell, i've seen anyone who looks over 25 wearing the local DC brands. maybe some die-hard "i want to look like a young guy" 40-somethings, but speaking generally, the local fashion lines are generally sported by high schoolers.
if you're going to do hip-hop clothes, you really have to do like Up Against The Wall and get all the high-end brands. That makes your returns much better. Dc brands tend to retail between 20-30 bucks as near as I can tell (except specialty Madness stuff...i saw an AWESOME one of a kind Jimi Hendrix shirt that Madness was selling for 75 bucks).
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