story

"What I want us to be known for, we're already known for. We're doing the work, but it's about impact, it's about community, it's about reach, it's about opportunity."

"We're here to serve the community first. That's always been our mission. And that's what we're doing and that's what we'll always do. Hi, guys. I'm Tenisha Clarke. I run the retail operations for the Whitaker Group."

"And I'm Kevin Chao and I do operations. Well, the Whitaker Group is our head company. It involves A Ma Maniére, Social Status, APB and Prosper."

"Together we run about 18 boutiques across the country and with a lot of community aspects attached to it. For Social Status, it's one of the four boutiques within the Whitaker Group."

"Of course, a portion of that is retail, but it's highly experiential in how we involve the community and reach back into the community with a lot of what we do. No matter where you go, no matter which one of our stores you visit, you can definitely see design hints throughout that are similar across all markets."

"Yeah. I mean, we definitely wanted to be able to showcase the breadth of categories that we bring and the depth of the brands that we can carry. So, the design definitely entails that."

"You can come here and kind of get a part of every experience. You can not only shop, but you can network, host events, come grab some coffee. And all of those categories are really intertwined and interconnected in every part of what we do."

"We focus on total experience. So, you may think that you're coming here just to get a pair of shoes. You develop friendships and connections that you wouldn't typically expect."

"It goes way deeper than just the apparel and footwear and everything else. I'm Jhalena. I'm community attendant at the beSocial East Liberty. My name is Dashan, I'm the assistant manager at Social Status East Liberty."

"Aesthetic is designed so that as soon as you enter a store, you come in to beSocial and it's like a welcoming invitation to the community."

"I think the best example of how we were able to do anything is beSocial Monview. It is our first resource center. It's in Monview Heights."

"And they specialize in programmings for adults and kids in the Monview projects. They have computer literacy and financial literacy just to help out."

"Our most recent event is we did a book bag drive. We had people donate book bags for back to school for children."

"Anyone who brought in a book bag pretty much swapped out a pair of Penny 1s, which was our most recent released shoe."

"We try to get out and just reach to as many kids as possible with our philanthropy and things like that. We just try to make this a safe space for everyone involved. What's next for the Whitaker Group is very exciting. We have a couple dedicated women's spaces, as well as a few more A Ma Maniére..."

"...flagships and Social Status and APB locations towards the Midwest. I genuinely do enjoy coming to work every day and just getting straight into creating our calendar and what we're going to do for the community next."

Talking Shop

Social Status