Leo Lu: Job Description
Sneaker Store Owner
I have fun explaining my job to people. It's rare, so they don't hear about it daily. When I tell people I own a sneaker store, they often don't understand what that means or what it entails. Luckily for everyone reading, I will do my best to explain my day-to-day.
At the basis of my work, I am an entrepreneur, working as a sneaker reseller. If you are not familiar with streetwear culture, our work revolves around the buying and selling of limited sneakers and streetwear. When these items release for the retail price, they often sell out within minutes, and sometimes even within seconds. My job is to find retail buyers, pay their premium, and charge consumers a markup on my buying price.
Many look down on our job. They blame us for sneakers selling for 5-10x over retail. In reality, we are like any other sellers in any market. No one gets mad at Louis Vuitton for marking up a handbag 100x, or at a grocery store for charging 3-5x for daily essentials. If anything, it is the retailer's fault for trying to boost their sales by keeping their items 'limited edition'.
After reselling sneakers for four years online, I decided to open my own physical sneaker store on Hollywood Boulevard. Courtside Hollywood is now a household name in the LA sneaker community, and we house an amazing curation of a variety of sneaker and streetwear brands. My job is to keep everything intact, and my list of responsibilities is not a small list by any means. I will do my best to provide full insight around what my main duties look like on a day-to-day. My main duties are, but not limited to:
- sourcing inventory
- operating and cleaning up the backend
- making sure employees are doing their job
- handling financials
Sourcing Inventory
Most of the sourcing that I do is online. My job is to find profitable sneakers to resell. They may come from other sneaker stores, online sellers, or even other countries. This means I can be scrolling for hours on end on my phone, and often times I will text or call sellers to try and close deals. There is tons of back-and-forth negotiating that occurs as well, which can take a very long time to close a deal. Additionally, I also source in person. I have a list of stores that I buy from in the LA area, as well as a list of online sellers that I meet with by scheduling in-person deals. I also travel to other cities and states to attend buy/sell/trade shows in hopes of coming home with lots of new inventory to sell at the shop.
Operating the backend
This is a pretty vague term, but to me, operating the backend means that I handle everything outside of actually selling the sneakers at the store. For example, I will: reorganize the stockroom boxes, order new hangers online, figure out how to market to new customers, and ship packages. There are tons of tasks that I handle outside of the selling shoes aspect, and I am the one handling it all.
Making sure employees are doing their job
Managing employees is a task that most people do not understand unless they are business owners or managers. Although my employees are good at what they do, it is a human tendency to slack off whenever we can, and my job is to limit that from happening. I am in charge of making sure that they are working at their best abilities whenever they are on the clock, and I need to handle the emotions and relations that come with that. This might include handling arguments either within myself and an employee or from employee to another employee. I also need to make sure that we have trust built within our bond, as employee theft in my industry is common.
Handling Financials
Handling the financials of the business is work that occurs typically at home. I track sales by inputting them into spreadsheets. I check what is selling and what isn't. I also ensure we hit our monthly sales goals. I also need to keep count of the cash that has come in and make sure that we are not short, and I need to make sure that we are generating cash flow and enough product turnover to profit. Although I am not a financial expert by any means, the business has taught me that I have to hold the financials at a deep regard, otherwise a lot of aspects of the business can go left.
This is extremely impressive. Being an entrepreneur is a lot of risk, but you seem dedicated to your craft! I am not a sneakerhead, but my brother is, and seeing him navigate this process has given me some knowledge on the topic. Hearing about it from your perspective sheds a lot of light on the otherwise confusing industry.
ReplyDeleteLeo, I personally represented one of my clients who runs a sneaker store on a deal and seem to understand a lot of what your operations look like. I even helped them design their store for a little and was a key part of locking in their location. Good to see that you are doing well in the same industry.
ReplyDeleteLeo, your story is very inspiring. I loved how you dove into the nitty gritty of each of your daily tasks from managing employees to operating the backend. Obviously selling sneakers is a pretty glamorous job but you gave a lens into the difficulties behind being truly successful in this industry.
ReplyDeleteLeo, such an intriguing job, not many ever get this experience especially at a young age. I bet managing your employees can be stressful on it's own as you are the boss of many that are probably your age. There were so many people who sold online but your success shows the amazing work ethic you have!
ReplyDeleteHey Leo, this is super cool. As someone not directly pursuing business your day to day seems so foreign and unintuitive. However I do relate to you sourcing product. I often look for cars I can easily fix and flip which can take the hours on hours you mentioned. Taking your passion brick and mortar is beyond impressive.
ReplyDeleteIt is super cool that you turned your passion for sneakers into a business! Your range of responsibilities requires a handful of dedication, and I am sure you learned a lot about the intricacies of operating a business through first-hand experience.
ReplyDeleteHi Leo, sneakers are something I have always found very interesting. The value of some of the pieces are insane, and sneaker collectors can certainly flip lots of profit if they come across the right shoe. I would like to know, whats been the best and worst sneaker stories you have experiences (anything that had a big financial swing or was memorable).
ReplyDeleteLeo, I know we have talked a little bit in class regarding your sneaker business. I really want to speak out loud and commend you on such a great accomplishment of owning a small business. I think you are onto great things in this beautiful life.
ReplyDeleteHi Leo, this is such a great read and I think it's dope that you have your own business. I really liked how you compared your upcharging to LV and grocery stores. I am sure you learned a lot about business from this experience. Do you plan to start more businesses? Or maybe branch out into other areas of resale? Overall great post really enjoyed this.
ReplyDeleteI love how you compared LV to your business because people don't get mad at big business when they sell an item for 100x the price. When a small business goes out of their way to purchase shoes and sell for a profit often people get mad, which I don't think is fair
ReplyDeleteit's really impressive how much work goes into running your sneaker store. I admire how you've built your business from online reselling to opening a physical store on Hollywood Boulevard. It sounds like a lot of responsibility, but also very rewarding!
ReplyDeleteLeo you are so impressive being so successful in your 20s. I am definitely going to visit your store sometime. It is even more impressive that you're able to run a business while being a full time student. You explained your job really well and I understand it much more clearly now.
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