It Was Only A Matter of Time.

But I'm back. The new Nike Sportswear spot on Mercer is the greatest thing to happen to NYC since Giuliani left office.

It opened Friday, August 22, and what better way to kick off a weekend, than peeping some new and hard to find kicks. I had no clue what to expect. I knew they were dropping the Air Max 90 Infrareds earlier in the day and they would be long gone by the time I got there. Cool- wasn't beasting for them anyway. What I encountered upon my grand entrance- by grand I mean half clad dimes dropping rose petals with each step- caught me completely off guard. Kind of like if Xzibit knocked on my door and wanted to pimp my ride. Or my kicks.



3 exclusive air force ones in NYC team colorways were being dropped in celebration of the store's opening. Yankees, Knicks, and Jets. All featured the visible air bubble and a back panel and swoosh in croc-textured white leather. The Yankees dark obisidian with white back was so simple, yet so dope. And it had a clear outsole- so from the bottom you could see the air bubble- similar to Air Max 180s. The bad news was that they were $225 and the good news was that they were sold out of my size. However, my boy popped his footwear hymen and went in on the last pair in the building, a lovely size 9. I got to catch a little vicarious feeling off of it. Props to Nicekicks.com for the images.




Then I peeped these crazy 2 toned forces featuring black front panels and midsoles with genuine crocodile skin side and back panels and matching outsole in a variety of colors. Orange, green, purple, amazing. Quality unsurpassed. Again, simple formula but attention getters without a doubt. The vibrancy of the colors was arresting. The black and orange was incredible. Bright orange, almost neon status, with rich oily black leather. Wowzers. The real wowzers was when I asked the price and was matter-of-factly told $2000 dollars. Seriously, don't let me touch sneakers of that degree with no visible price tag so I have that 10 second period where I vision them on my feet and really consider dropping several hundred dollars in a blind sneaker rush. I'm sure the workers there could write a book based on reactions to the same question. Turns out they are hand made to order in Italy, and as stated earlier, genuine croc skin. More props to Nicekicks.com for the images.




But it gets even better. I noticed one of the workers wearing these Wildwoods that I only saw rendered images posted HERE. Thinking they were samples I tried not to get too excited. After I asked him about them and was told they were available, my self imposed sneaker boycott came to a screeching halt. The "Fuck Sneakers" and "There is more to life than air forces" signs were dropped in the middle of the store and it was on. So on. The size 12 came out and I looked at my feet in the mirror and thought things inappropriate to post here. Shit like this is what it's all about.

It's very appropriate that the store is located on Mercer St. just a stone's throw away from Howard St. Welcome back How.