My Boston Sneaker Experience

 

When's the last time you walked into a sneaker shop and walked away with something you were legitimately pumped about getting? No, I'm not talking about after you've camped out for hours and frozen your proverbial nuts off. And I'm not counting getting your name "randomly" pulled from a box to win a raffle. I'm talking about walking off the street, going into a shop, and grabbing something dope. Think hard. It might take a while; I know it did for me. Until tonight, that is.

On Monday I flew into Boston for work and found myself with some free time. There were so many places that I knew I wanted to go (Concepts, Bodega, AWOL), but unfortunately I didn't have any personal transportation and only a few hours of free time. I cut my losses and did what I typically do when I'm in a new city; I started walking. I found quite a few stores a couple of blocks away and Googled to see if I was close to any sneaker shops. Voila! I was three blocks from a Nike Store and a New Balance (Boston-based)!

Being from Kansas City, I'd never gotten to go to an actual Nike Store. Yeah, I'd been to tons of factory and outlet stores, but I'd never been to an actual Nike Store. It's a sad situation for someone who is supposedly a "sneaker enthusiast." That all changed Monday night.

And it was a complete disappointment.

I'd always imagined that when I finally got to go to a Nike Store it'd be some magical place of (sneaker) unicorns. I thought I'd be able to walk in and just grab a bunch of Nike Sportswear sneakers I wasn't able to get over the past few months. Boy, was I wrong! It, honestly, was like walking into a much nicer, well organized, Nike-specific Footlocker. By that, I mean, there wasn't really anything there that I couldn't walk into my local Footlocker and get. Yeah, they had a couple shoes that they don't have at Footlocker, but they weren't anything you'd want; I guess that's why they're still there. I at least thought I'd be able to contemplate buying and eventually pass (again) on some Flax Air Force Ones, but they didn't even have those.

New Balance wasn't much better, but God, does New Balance put out the best damn general releases on the market or what? It's honestly not even close in my opinion either. I suppose you get what you pay for though ($250 GRs). I was hoping I could find some old GR goodies on deep discount, or some collaborations or something, but I wasn't in any luck. I did find some gorgeous GRs that I was interested in but not for full price when I know I can get them on discount at some point down the road. Here's some of the ones I liked though:

It 'kicked up a notch' on Tuesday though; that's when I hit the jackpot. I was on my way to Patagonia to look for my girlfriend a Christmas gift (she wants a Patagonia beanie), and I just so happened to run across an Adidas store on my way. I didn't even consider an Adidas store being in the area! Again, we only have an Adidas outlet in KC; the more I think about it, KC is a depressing place to live if you like sneakers. But, anyways, back to the point. Adidas had a sign outside that they released some Ultra Boost today, and I had to think "what Ultra Boosts dropped today?" And then I thought, "well it doesn't really matter because they're going to be sold out anyway." That is, until I walked in and set my eyes upon something gorgeous; the Ultra Boost LTD "Glow Pack." I instantly gravitated toward them like a magnet. By gravitated, I mean, if Joe Thomas was trying to block me from them it wouldn't have ended up well for him.

I asked the guy who welcomed me if he had a 9.5 or 10 (remember that for me if you see the cream ones), and he said they didn't have a 10. Then he paused...

......

................

They had a 9.5 though! He immediately rips off the tag for me to try them on (ugh!), but I knew I was buying them already. He rung me up, and I sent a picture (no flash, of course) to some of the other writers from Kickin' Up a Notch, and they went nuts. It's awesome to have a group of guys who don't care about hype and can appreciate a gorgeous shoe. Unfortunately, I couldn't oop any of them because they didn't have any other sizes left except an 8.

After one of them (Wes) started looking for a pair for himself, he found that they were called the "Glow Pack" and weren't supposed to release until December 4th. Then, I started wondering, "I wonder why they're called the Glow Pack?" So, I flipped on my flash and took another picture. That's when all hell broke loose. The upper weaving has 3M reflective threading. My mind was completely blown at this point. Did I just walk into a store, pick up a random shoe I thought was beautiful, purchase it, and come back to the hotel to find out it's actually even better than I originally though? Hell yes I did; That. Just. Happened. Thank you Boston!

Maybe my expectations were too high for Nike and New Balance. Maybe that's some of my naivety not being from a place that has those stores. Either way, I hit the jackpot, in my eyes, with the Ultra Boost LTD. They're absolutely gorgeous, and I'm extremely glad I was able to grab them before Kanye undoubtedly wears them and the hype goes through the roof!