Give me that, give me that, that pop music.

While shopping is still on my mind, I keep thinking about the connection people seek and find in shopping. The example of boutique shops helps further show peoples desire to connect while shopping. I’ll start with a local shop, then go costal.
Skateboarding has always been a cool phenom. Growing up far from the hub of where skating took off, we didn’t have authentic skate shops. We had Zumiez, which at the time was a giant amongst midgets. Once skate culture took off people from with in the culture could open up shop, literally, we had a giant among regular sized people. One such shop is Satellite. Satellite is like one of those restaurants that have crazy shit on the walls, knick-knacks you would only think of when you are on drugs. Satellite is a good example, but their sister stores gets even better. Installation is the shoe addicts’ crack house. Installations crosses the loves of skating and shoe addicts, mixing in more style than you can handle. The store stocks some amazing shoes, as well as giving artist have free reign in designing the store interior. This is a store that you could expect to see in SF or LA. The owners, Raul and JG, created something more authentic than the owners of The Billionaire Boys Club/ Ice Cream, Pharrel Williams and his manager. Shoe culture is so salient that I will get to it in another post, but what makes Installation “pop,” is its connection to art and style. The old skool Nike hi-tops feel right at home on an old mini merry go round or in cubby boxes the next week. The artifacts and knick knacks are ever-present, but never the same. This fabrication of culture helps lower the barriers for people to get into the shoe addict culture, just as much as it helps keep those already in it well connected and stylish.
Having a store with the perfect salesmen, that are friends with all the clients and can recommend the perfect item and doesn't even need to toe the fine line of being pushy, would be perfect. Stores are always looking to strike up a nice conversation, but more often than not, TV spots and web banners come across as yelling or as domineering as my uncle Tom. Seeing artifacts, like those in installation, makes me feel like I'm reminiscing with a friend about way-back-when. Good boutique stores fit the saying, a picture is worth a thousand words, but these words are in the form of a great a conversation.