Eh, I get it...they're shoes. I'll get that outta the way. I don't know why I expect decency out of people, but today had me pretty heated at the shyttiness of Undefeated LA. I spend plenty of money there monthly, and have for years.
I wanted the Yellow Camo NMDs that released today, and my local Undefeated store were releasing those and the NiceKicks collab. I called yesterday and they simply said to line up at the store early. I found no posts on their social media accounts about today's release. I've lined up at this same store for other releases with no issues.
We get there around 8:30 this morning (a little later than anticipated), and they open at 11. There are about 7 people in line already which wasn't bad. At the front of the line is an old Filipino couple, probably 70 years old or so buying for their grandson...they had been there since early early this morning, around 2 or 3 in the morning according to others in line, but not certain. Across the street is their old store where they moved from, and which is only opened for special events (book signings, etc), but the shoes are sold where we're at. I look and there are about 4 or 5 people lined up over there, which is odd considering the storefront is on the side we're on, where the majority of people are lined up. We're feeling good, because we are logical people who lined up at the store, and we can see the shoes sitting on the counter through the glass. Nobody really knows what's going on with the 2 lines. Another dozen or so people show up, and logically, line up behind us at the store proper. Some of us had lined up where we were before for other releases.
10:30 rolls around and an SUV pulls up to the other side and 5 or 6 guys hop out and just start hanging out around the front of the line across the street. I start getting a bad feeling.
10:50 comes and a few of the store employees start showing up, and the first guy says "The line is over there" pointing across the street, and we immediately start arguing with him. None of us move:
- The storefront is where we are. Logically it makes no sense to line up anywhere aside from the storefront where we buy the shoes. There are no signs in the window stating otherwise.
- Multiple people in line with us have lined up in the same line for previous releases, as recently as the KITH Dooms and White Cement 4s.
- Multiple people including myself called yesterday and were told to simply line up at the store as early as we feel like it. First come, first serve. Nothing whatsoever was said about lining up anywhere else.
- A guy in front of us had actually taken a picture earlier in the morning of the 2 people across the street, and showed him the picture with the timestamp.
Anyhow, the resell cartel (what I've since named the guys in the SUV) come over and start mouthing off. The manager shows up, and immediately says the line is across the street, it's "my shop, my rules"...being super rude to everyone in line. He looks at us and says "I'm looking at all of your faces, and none of you are getting shoes". He tried to tell us that lines go over there, but we knew firsthand from lining up previously that wasn't the case. We had words, I told him I was fine at this point without giving them money, but was he really going to turn away this 70 year old couple who were the first in line...and he simply said yes. They just left. The manager eventually let it out that he had known the SUV guys for 7 years, and that they spend thousands of dollars with him. We said that's none of our concern, we're customers that lined up at your store before them. I knew what was going on, and I can only assume that he was getting some kind of kickback from their resell business.
I knew at this point that nothing we said would affect the outcome of this, and I was not going to line up behind people across the street who showed up after us. I had a $150 gift card from a return a few weeks ago that I had planned on using, but since I was disgusted to the core and had decided that I would never spend another dime at this company already, I pulled the gift card out and gave it to the manager (see:
https://i.imgur.com/3aCqNAs.jpg). He tried to tell me to keep it, but I said I want no part in the store anymore, and to take it. Perhaps silly of me, but like I said, I had already made my mind up that I would not step foot in an Undefeated again. The manager couldn't have handled the situation any worse. It was about being fair, which wasn't possible here.
We walked out, drove 5 minutes to Bait, and spent more money there than we planned on spending at Undefeated. Shout out to Bait for the Reigning Champs x Asics among some other things, and for being super friendly. Fun fact, they also knew the old couple at the front of the line and mentioned how sweet they were, that they had lined up at their store for their grandson multiple times.
TL;DR: Manager of Undefeated in LA allowed his resell buddies to cut line in front of everyone for the NMD release. Real life L's were handed out heavily today.
Feel free to Retweet my post on Twitter to reduce my sodium levels.:
Here's a pic I snapped of us in line. You can see the old couple sitting next to the streetlight:
Their Twitter bio makes more sense to me now:
.....
