Named for the amount of Nike Airs they move, Air Traffic Control’s homage to aviation doesn’t stop at the boutique’s sign. Their specialty consignment kicks are circulated around the store on a 22-foot baggage-claim carousel, while customers make their purchases at a faux check-in desk located in front of a plasma screen advertising the latest “Arrivals.”

Frank151: Tell us about the history of your store.
Air Traffic Control: It started I guess as an idea in Manhattan. I had a friend I used to work with at Rawkus records and we used to travel down to Miami for Winter Music and How Can I Be Down and all those urban music festivals for all the labels, and we never really had an outlet to shop down here. So we always said that as New Yorkers, ideally we would love to open something in Miami where we could bring a taste of New York. Originally I was born and raised in Hong Kong too, so I also wanted to bring an element of that kind of world to Miami, which we felt was lacking.   

We opened our doors in June 2008 and basically we started just with the physical space. We just launched our online store in November ’09 so that's been up for about half a year. We tried to launch the website at the same time but it just took a lot more time than we expected, put it that way. So we started as just a consignment sneaker store, and then we had clothing brands and now we're doing a private label brand, we're doing an ATC brand. We have tees and New Era fitted caps and we're trying to evolve that, it's a real apparel line as well.

F151: Were there any other shops that inspired you?
ATC: I would say that as far as our inspiration and influences go, Flight Club was a big part of that. The guys over there are good friends of ours, it was sort of a no-brainer to do a sneaker store in New York but being that we wanted to go consignment, we didn't want to go up against our family and the rest of the market was saturated. So, Flight Club was an inspiration... I'd say Recon*, Supreme – not so much the aesthetic of Supreme but more the product that they carried. Alife Rivington Club for sure. And then again, also growing up and going to high school in Hong Kong there's a lot of sneaker areas in Hong Kong. Like Mong Kok, a district in Hong Kong that has a street called Flower Street which is also known as "Sneaker Street" ’cause there's like 30 stores on one block.


F151: How would you describe the design of your store? What was the inspiration behind it and what type of environment are you trying to create?
ATC: The design of the store is based on the name. We chose the name Air Traffic Control which was just a play on words because basically, the majority of shoes that we sell are Air Jordan, Air Force 1, Air Max, “Air” everything. So once we had chosen the name we based the aesthetic of the store around it. Being that the air traffic control is an integral part of an airport, we were wondering how we could display these shoes where we could sort of use that element, and the closest thing was the baggage claim. So we built a 22-foot, fully-functioning conveyor belt that brings the shoes from the stockroom out onto the floor and back. We have airport seating, we found the manufacturer from one of the airports in Spain that did the seating for them and we ordered those, and we have two plasma screens that are behind the cash register. We built the cash register to sort of look like a check-in desk while the screens are built to look like arrivals and departures boards.

It’s easy for DJs to hang out with other DJs, and I have a tight crew of DJ friends here now after living here for three years. So when I'm not selling or designing or working behind the scenes, we're spinning, listening to music or downloading music. My store manager and I make beats together and we actually wanted to maybe set up a station here with an MPC, ’cause like the three main guys here, our backgrounds are definitely music. One of my business partners worked at the labels with me, the other guys, we make music together so there's definitely a love of sneakers and music that goes hand-in-hand for us. I mean, even at the record label we were cashing our checks and going straight to the sneaker store across the street from Rawkus.       

F151: How did you decide on your location? How important has the location been?
ATC: Basically I found a space which I thought was ideal but when it came to the point of signing the lease and submitting the business plan to the landlord, when he saw it was a sneaker store he said, "I don't really want to deal with something that is a subculture," he didn't really get what we were trying to do. So we started hitting the pavement again, looking for spaces. Basically South Beach is 1st street to 23rd, and there's only three avenues: Ocean, Collins and Washington, after that it  becomes all residential. So as a tourist you stay in that area. We just hit the whole grid and finally we found a space that was ideal for us to do the whole airport theme. It was an uphill battle, for sure. I definitely had the lease on the table for eight months and had my real estate lawyer going back-and-forth on the terms with them. But basically what we were able to accomplish by signing the lease here was that we're a block from all the 5-star hotels, we're a block from Lincoln Rd which is the most premium retail block in South Beach, but the only problem with Lincoln Rd is you're looking at $100+ per square foot. We have a 1500-square-foot place, so you can do the math. But the aim was to find the best location for the best price for the best terms and also on our block we have parking on both sides of the street. That's a main concern of people who travel or drive to South Beach – there's nowhere to park. Now we have public parking on both sides of the street for $1 an hour. And it works to our advantage because people who wouldn't usually shop here say, "I walked by your store on the way to my car and I just had to come in," so it's been a win/win for us, location-wise.

F151: What brands do you carry, and which are your top sellers?
ATC: Apparel brands, top sellers are Playcloths by the Clipse, UNDFTD, Stussy Deluxe, Staple, aNYthing, J-Money, Collabo*, Burough Bred, Subwear*, Recon*, UNDRCRWN, Rogue Status, all in that order. Women's brands we have Married to the Mob, Hellz Bellz, then also being that we're New Yorkers we didn't want to come in and ruffle any feathers, so one of the good connections we've made with local brands is Date Wear* and Mi Gente Clothing, two local Miami brands which do well for us too. Footwear it's a different game ’cause it's strictly consignment. Apparel brands we order, and we own that but consignment we're selling it for a collector and we take a 20% cut. The strongest brands for us are Jordan, Nike, Nike SB, Air Max, adidas, Reebok, Puma, Bathing Ape, Converse, Alife and Vans.

F151: What brands or specific products are you excited about for Spring / Summer 2010?
ATC: This season I am excited about some new UNDFTD stuff, I'm excited about Playcloths, G-Shock. Some cool stuff coming from New Era, even though it's all custom or individually designed. Obviously we're all fans of Supreme even though we don't have the account, but Supreme is always at the forefront of design and collaborations.

F151: Are there any trends in fashion that you're excited about, both for Spring / Summer 2010 and beyond?
ATC: Uh, the death of the skinny jean I hope? [laughs] I'm seeing stuff get away from all these super day-glo neon colours, back to the basics, you know. I'm a fan of black, white and gray. Definitely more bold imagery as opposed to graphic tees. What we do is footwear first and apparel second, so you know, you definitely have the kids come in and buy a pair and need to match the whole 'fit to it, but what I'm noticing is kids are also sort of getting away from that and I think it's good ’cause, I'm a sneaker collector and wearer, but from a design standpoint now that we're doing ATC clothing, you don't want to have to make a shirt for every shoe that comes out. You know, so if you go back to a lot of the more primary colors, you can match but it doesn't have to be down to the shoelaces or the stitching. So I'm seeing a move away from all the super-neons and less matching stuff, which I think is good.

F151: How has social networking (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) affected retail for your store and retail in general?
ATC: It helps us out a lot, I'll tell you 100%. I'm not a fan of Twitter, I don't personally have a Twitter account, we have a Twitter for ATC, but I don't think I'm gonna ever really personally comply with that. My take on Twitter away from the business side is it's like a daily journal that people used to keep to themselves, and now they're just giving it away to the world. But for business, I think it's incredible. A lot of people find us on Facebook where before they had no idea about the store. I think it's a great advantage for the store, we benefit greatly from that. Anytime we're doing events, anytime we have a new release, anytime we get new product it always goes up on Facebook and Twitter.     

F151: What about ecommerce? What effect has online sales had on your store and on the broader retail industry?
ATC: Um, I think it's good from the standpoint of a business owner. My take on it is that okay, now I have a store in South Beach, I have the Miami market and whoever travels here on lock. But what about the globe? The internet, that's the globe now, that's everyone who can't make it here physically. As a business owner I'm reaching a lot of people who can't physically be here, so that's great. Now, you have other online retailers, certain clothing brands will tell us, "Hey look, we know we've opened you, you have the clothing brand in the store, but you can't sell it on the web. We have an exclusive with X, Y and Z." And, that sort of hurts us a little bit because someone in Singapore who can't get to a store that sells UNDFTD clothing could potentially buy it from us, but, ah, you know, certain brands – and I'm not going to give specifics – have certain deals with certain online retailers and they won't let you sell the product. Then you have big companies – and here's an example, and I'm not trying to rub any salt in the wound – but like Karmaloop has exclusives with a lot of brands, and we have the same product in the store and we're giving the suggested retail from the brand, but then you see it up on Karmaloop for $15. And that could potentially hurt physical stores, but you know, you just have to roll with the punches and keep on evolving and sort of recreating yourself and staying fresh, you know. So, okay, if you're going to undercut me and sell the same product that I just got that's current and that's the new line and I'm told to sell it for $30-$40 and you're selling it for $15, then maybe I move on to the next brand. ’Cause I can't compete. By all means, it's a very intelligent business plan and props to those guys, but at the same time I can't sell a shirt for $15, that's under my cost. So what we did in previous instances is take a step back and say, "How important is it for us to keep this brand?" and we let someone else on the Beach pick up that brand, while we moved onto something newer and fresher that no one else has.

F151: What future plans for your store do you have that you’d like to share?
ATC: I'm actually flying out to look at opening a second ATC. It wouldn't be in the States, I can say that it would be in the European Union. But that's the most I can say about it until it's more concrete.