shop talk / air max 1 & court forces

I paid a visit to the Kicks store in Cherry Hill to cash in on a birthday gift certificate from one of my fellow sneakerhead buddies. Their collection is small but peppered with some gems. Plus the salespeople are fairly mindful of their job - unlike other "urban" stores where saleskids have to ignore you to maintain the legitimacy of their street cred. Being enthusiatically attentive aint cool. So I end up yelling out my size and waving the desired sneakers like a traffic cop in a Manhattan rush hour blackout before they nod and disappear in the back room for half an hour.

I'm debating if that attitude is worse than the needy hyper-intrusive salesperson. Stop watching me. And stop stalking me. Why won't you believe me when I say "Thanks, I'm just looking?!?!" The worst examples of this scenario occur during gift shopping for my wife. There is always a little uneasiness about walking into a female clothing store by myself and dealing with the swarm of pushy saleswomen smelling the blood of a sucka. My indecisive shopping personality (my wife calls it my lost puppy mode) doesn't help matters. Fending off their full-store press of fake conversations and faker flirtations is exhausting. A couple years ago at Victoria's Secret, I found myself in the exact same situation as Will Smith at the lingerie store in Enemy of the State. Am I supposed to be comfortable when the salesgirl offers her body for comparison sizing for my wife's gift? I'm not really supposed to look this chick up and down to make a decision right? You'd think I'd swear myself to online shopping after that...

Back to the kicks. I bought a pair of Air Max 1 Premiums with perforated grey nubuck accented with black leather. A nice toned down colorway for autumn with enough LCD green accents to create some interest.


























My in-laws in Japan were generous enough to send a classy pair of metallic gold accented Court Forces. I'm very appreciative of their efforts to add to my collection - which they have declared as celebrity status! Plus they sent a package of fall goodies from Uniqlo. My wife and I completed this day of consumption with a mini-shopping spree that added a bounce to our step. Damn we can be shallow sometimes...but at least we got a lot of stuff on sale.