Owning Your Own Sneaker Store
Lots of sneakers...and lots of work! An interview with Rosemary Frazier of Goliath RF.

by Lori Lobenstine

Okay, how many of us fiends have NOT had the dream of someday owning our very own sneaker store? Let me speak for myself. In my dream, I am endlessly getting to pick my very favorite sneakers—my store carries no pink, patent leather sneaker-sandals, or “space boot” zebra Shaqs, that’s for sure!—and spending my days amidst the glorious smell of new kicks. The fantasy also includes plenty of dough for global sneaker hunting, and lots of time spent with happy sneakerhead customers. (For more details about my little sneaker store fantasy, check out my conversation with Emily, in the interviews section!)

But is it really so simple? Of course not. Last month I got to catch up with Rosemary Frazier, the very busy owner of Goliath RF in the Big Apple. First let me tell you that her store is NIIIICE. One of my favorites that I’ve been in so far. Not just sweet kicks, but great t-shirts and fitted caps, and just a sweet vibe all around.

After seeing how nice her store was, I figured she must have been in the sneaker business forever. Or at least been dreaming about this spot since she was a shortie buying skippies at the mall. Or maybe not…

Have you always been into sneakers?
No, I really only got into sneakers the last couple of years. I’d say 4 years.

So what started turning your head?
Actually I had some medical problems, around 10 years ago, and that’s when I found out I was going to have to wear sneakers about 90% of my life, so I was like, “Oh wow. Okay.” So at first it was just the regular: New Balance, adidas, whatever, but then it was like, “Okay I want something a little different now.” So now it becomes, “Okay, if I’m going to wear sneakers, I’m going to get the exclusive stuff.” So then over time, I just started really going after exclusive sneakers, that type of thing.

[Wow, a rare female sneaker store owner and we could have missed her altogether! Go figure.]

How did you pick the name of your store?
The name came about from a joke. Goliath to mean big, taking over. So we are taking over Harlem, so to speak.

How long have you been open?
We opened in September [04], so about 10 months now.

Did you work in any sneaker stores before you came here?
Never! But I shopped in a lot of them!

What are your favorite stores in nyc?
It would be downtown. ALife is where I shopped weekly, Nort, weekly, Classic Kicks for a while, Recon, occasionally I went to Nom de Guerre, the one that’s underground. It opened up right around when we did, so that kind of made it hard to get down there. Working here 7 days a week, I don’t have a chance to go out and get what I want! Those were my main spots. And a spot in Queens called Mo’s.

Wow, so how many sneakers do you have?
I have about 90 now. Which, for a collector, is not really a lot, but for a girl collector…it probably would be more but they don’t make a men’s sneaker down to my size sometimes. Otherwise it’d be many more....I have racks. I have them all like a stockroom!

What are some of the biggest challenges?
Displays, how to display, what to display, how to coordinate, how to group…even though you have your own personal taste, also what you think is going to be attractive to the customer. The window space that we have here, it has Penguins, Ponies...that’s because women are not really as much into sneakers, and that helps pull women into the store. Women are a little hesitant. So I give them a little eye candy, what they like to see. Cuz it’s not just your taste, it’s their taste, you know? But most sneakers I get here are actually sneakers that I like myself.

People say you picked a tough location (175 E. 105 th St, between 3rd and Lex in Spanish Harlem), what made you such a risk taker?

When we opened our store here, people said, “Oh, your store’s not going to make it. Your prices are too high. People are used to 40 dollar Converses here.” And I say, “We’re going to have Converse in the fall.” I don’t think it depends on the price whether or not you can say, ‘I’m a sneaker head.’ If you have 400 $40 sneakers, you’re a collector! So people use the term “collector”, I think it’s very loose: it’s what you like. It doesn’t matter how many you have, it’s what you like. I think that’s the main thing. Someone asked me the other day, what should he do because he wants to start his Air Max 95 collection. I said, first buy what you like! It’s plain and simple.

Are there customer questions that just make you roll your eyes?
Well, it depends on how the question’s presented. Sometimes people come in and are like, “Why are your sneakers so expensive?” Depending on the mood I’m in, I’ll say, “Let me explain to you…”, or I’ll say, “You know what? If you can find them somewhere else cheaper, go ahead.” And then they usually come back, “Oh, I couldn’t find those anywhere.” Now that is why they’re the price they are. Cuz I found them for you. I did the search for you. And they keep coming back. They ask me each week, what’s new, what’s hot.

What are your favorite sneakers right now?
My infrareds [Air Max 90s]. I only wear the infrareds about once every 6 months. I’m keeping them cuz I want to make them last. And they’re kind of getting dirty now, and the mesh part is hard to clean. So I’m just gauging how I wear it…

What are you wearing on your feet today?
I’m wearing my Union 180s that I just got today. They’re not my size, but I don’t care! They don’t match what I’m wearing, but I don’t care either.

What sneakers have been the most popular this summer?
The Easter Air Force 1’s. We had a few of the Olympics in, and those went really well. And all the Euro AF1’s that we import, the Chosen 1, the Ice Cube AF1’s. There’s not just one hot seller. The Ices are an SB; those are hard to get as well. I got one! [I wish I did!]

Do you have anything else you want to say to female sneaker fiends around the world?
Shop, shop and shop again! That’s the woman side of me. (Laughs.)

Well, that’s not hard advice for some of us to take I guess. What’s harder to figure is that Rosemary estimates that she has had the sum total of about FIVE female sneaker fiends in her store! Could that be true? Folks, we have to get out and support our female-fiend-owned businesses! For all the sneakers we’re buying, let’s hook up some sisters, so our dreams of owning sneaker stores can be more than fantasies…

P.S. I just have to throw in this great sneaker and sauerkraut story from Rosemary:
So one day we were at Kat’s deli, and I was wearing my Puma Evisus, the denim highs that came out. I love those!….Oh, so I was in Kat’s deli, I don’t know if you’ve ever been there, but you get your tray, and then they have different sections, like if you want a hot dog that’s one section, and they give you this little ticket with the amount on it, and you go section to section and then on the way out you give them your ticket and then you pay. So my mother wanted just a plate of sauerkraut (I’m going to make her sound like a nut now!), she just wanted some sauerkraut, so I went and got it, and I didn’t get a ticket, cuz I didn’t think it was something you pay for.

But then as I was walking down the aisle to take it to the table, I noticed this guy was really staring at me hard; he was one of the employees. So I was thinking, “Oh my god, I just stole this sauerkraut! I just stole sauerkraut and they’re going to get me!” And he was like, “Come here miss, come here.” And I thought, “Oh my god, he’s going to call me out on the sauerkraut.” So I go over to him and he was like, “Are those Puma Evisus you got on?” I said , “Yea.” He said, “You look like a size 7.” I said, “Yea.” He said, “I’ll give you $300 right now for them.” I was like, “Are you crazy!? These are my favorite pair! I’m not giving them to anybody!” He said, “Come on, 325.” I was like, “No.” And by the end of a 20 minute conversation, he offered me 350 and threw in a pair of Ups, brand new, he had them in his locker. He said, “This way you can leave them here.” Cuz he wanted them right off my feet!

Did you take it?
No, but my mom was in the back, like “Give them! Give them!” So that was my crazy Kat's story. And from that day, my mother was like, “Hmmm. There’s money in this sneaker thing!” And now I don’t get laughed at as much. I still get laughed at, but not as much.