By Jack Hill

Every Saturday before 11:00 a.m. at 914 West Broad Street, you will find a long line of teenagers, adults, and college students who all share a common passion: sneakers. They all wait for the opening of Richmond’s most popular sneaker reselling store, Kicks Boomin. 

Alex Sam and Thomas Vu, fellow sneaker enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and owners of Kicks Boomin, share that same love for sneaker culture and vintage clothing, which is why on December 12, 2020, they decided to open their very own store called Kicks Boomin, which started out as an outrageous idea.

Co-owner Thomas Vu had a longtime passion for sneakers. Before opening Kicks Boomin, Vu was a student at Virginia Commonwealth University and a four-year employee of Round Two, a vintage clothing and sneaker store in downtown Richmond. Round Two was looted on May 31, 2020, amidst the protests in Richmond regarding the murder of George Floyd. The owners of Round Two decided not to reopen the location after the looting, leaving Vu jobless. “It was devastating,” said Vu, who relied on his paycheck at Round Two to provide for his family. Vu pivoted from the situation and emerged with an idea: opening his own store.

Store owners Thomas Vu (left) and Alex Sam (right).

He teamed up with Alex Sam, a former student at Douglas Freeman High School. Like Vu, Sam shared a love for sneakers. “My passion for sneakers started in middle school,” said Sam. “I began reselling sneakers at a very young age, buying classmate’s old shoes, cleaning them up, and reselling them.” Sam’s side business at school grew as he sold more pairs, allowing him to buy more and more shoes and then turn an even bigger profit. “I saw a business opportunity in sneaker reselling,” he said. 

That’s when Vu reached out to Sam about the possibility of opening their own store together, he was immediately in. “It was a no brainer,” Sam said. The duo only needed to look at one location to find their future store: a 1,600-square-foot facility located on West Broad Street. “As soon as we walked in, we could see it—shelves here, racks there—we could already see how it would come together. It was perfect,” said Sam. 

Constructing the store proved to be a tough feat. “It took months of hard work to build everything from scratch. Sometimes we even spent the night in the store while working” said Vu. The two built out the store entirely from scratch, installing shelves, painting, and eventually stocking the store with their own shoes from their personal collections. With months of work completed, they were ready to open Kicks Boomin.

The store was an instant success. With a burgeoning social media presence and plenty of VCU foot traffic, Kicks Boomin had plenty of business in their opening weeks. 

Since its opening in 2020, Kicks Boomin has never stopped growing, and while they remain in their original location, the store has more clothes, more shoes, and more customers than ever before. It has quickly become one of the most hyped stores in Richmond, becoming a “first stop” for streetwear, said Will Bishop, a senior at Steward School and frequent customer at Kicks Boomin.

Kicks Boomin’s ‘heat case’, consisting of highly desired Jordan 1’s and Dunks.

And while Kicks Boomin is neither the first nor the only store of its kind in Richmond, there are many factors that set it apart from its competitors. “It has something for everyone,” said Bishop, referring to Kicks’ wide variety of inventory. Their collection of sneakers includes coveted pairs, commonly referred to as ‘grails,’ such as the Cactus Plant Flea Market Dunks and Travis Scott x Fragment Jordan 1’s, shoes that can resell for up to $3000 dollars each, or more. On the other hand, Kicks offers tough-to-beat prices for other sneakers. “You just can’t beat the prices here,” said customer and James Madison University alumnus Eric Medley. Kicks is known for their remarkably low prices for highly anticipated sneakers. “It separates us from other stores,” said Vu.

But what truly makes them special is their customer service and the atmosphere they create. Long-time customer Devin Williams said “Kicks Boomin is unlike any other store I’ve been to by being so personable and active in the community. It’s more than just a business with Thomas and Alex; it’s about building a relationship with each customer.” Another long-time customer, Shravani Wadwekar, added, “There’s always a warm environment, friendly employees, and great music in the background as you shop – the store is always buzzing with conversation and lots of laughter.” Kicks Boomin has quickly become a staple to many Richmond streetwear enthusiasts. “Kicks Boomin is changing the narrative of sneaker shops and is setting the standard for what the business should be,” said Williams. 

As far as future plans go, Vu and Sam are hopeful that they will eventually open up another store in the future, but regardless of their future aspirations, they said that they will be in it “together forever, living their dream and doing what they love.” 

Kicks Boomin is open 7 days a week from 11-8 p.m. and is located at 914 West Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, 23221.

All photos by Jack Hill.