The Detroit News: Sneaker store stocks the hard-to-find shoe

The Detroit News ran a nice feature on Burn Rubber June 2007, shortly after Rick & Ro took over ownership. You can read the entire article after the jump.

Sneaker store stocks the hard-to-find shoe
Owners confess they are both ’sneakerheads,’ who understand the urban clothing culture.
Author: Special to The Detroit News
Alexa Stanard
Section: Business
Page: 02C
Dateline: ROYAL OAK

ROYAL OAK — Burn Rubber, an urban sneaker store specializing in hard-to-find shoes, wants to be a top destination for Metro Detroit shoppers hunting for the perfect pair of treads.

Friends, first-time business owners and self-proclaimed “sneakerheads” Rick Williams, 26, and Roland Coit, 28, bought the shoe store in February from previous owner Rachel Graybill-Carroll. The duo expanded the store’s offerings to include clothing, added sneaker lines and gave the space a more urban feel, painting graffiti along the back wall and bringing in a 1984 Nintendo 8-Bit that customers can play.

“We’re trying to be the spot for streetwear culture in Detroit,” Coit said.

The store sells unusual and limited-edition sneakers like New Balance Tier 1 Shoguns, Adidas Metro and Nike Quickstrike. Quickstrike is only available in boutiques, and many of Burn Rubber’s shoes are available at only a handful of Michigan stores. Prices can inch toward $200, but most pairs cost less than $100.

Coit and Williams said they’re tapping into a sneakerhead culture that views shoes as collectibles and prizes originality, exclusivity and quality.

“The whole culture is built on hype,” Coit said. “Pictures of shoes are on the Internet six months before they’re available. There’ll be 30,000 to 40,000 people wanting shoes they’re only going to make 1,000 pairs of.”

Coit was the first of the two to develop a passion for sneakers, ignited when he spotted a pair of Nike Heineken Dunks. He found them on eBay for $150 and immediately hopped in his car to buy them from their owner in Lansing. Coit turned Williams on to sneaker culture; the two once drove to New York in a snowstorm so Coit could buy a new pair of Bapes, a popular Japanese brand.

Both became customers of Burn Rubber, and Williams helped create the store’s Web site in exchange for free shoes. Coit had been mulling starting his own business when Graybill-Carroll approached him about buying the store. He decided he could make a go of it if he had a partner, and asked Williams to come on board.

They added men’s and women’s clothing by lines like Crooks and Castles and 10 Deep, including hoodies, fitted caps and jackets. A popular line of T-shirts reads “I have more shoes than my girl does.” They added shirts of their own design and sell graffiti art. The clothing has been a key source of revenue, Williams said.

Opening the shop has meant a sharp learning curve as the two tackle the demands of running a business and find ways to balance their other endeavors — Coit is a DJ, Williams teaches tap dancing and both are in a band.

But despite the challenges, and the difficulties facing many retail shops in Michigan’s current economic climate, the store is performing well, Williams said.

“People want to be fly anyway, whether they have money or not.”

Copyright (c) The Detroit News. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.
Record Number: det30137995

Tags: Burn Rubber

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