story

"I go by the name of JB. I'm the store manager here at 158 and Broadway. Slo, co-owner of UP NYC."

"Fleezy, manager of the Bronx location and 136th Street. We brought something to the area that was never here before. Somewhat luxury shopping experience uptown. We've been selling sneakers since we was teenagers."

"So it was only right that we did something like this. The culture all around, every community that our store is located actually plays a huge part in the clothing we select and the sneakers we select."

"Everywhere geographically has their own identity. It's very important to highlight that and to make sure that the people feel like they're heard when it comes to what they want. If I like the brand, I'm going to bring it in. You know what I'm saying?"

"When I bring it in and they touch and see, you know what I'm saying? This is it. I think it's our connection to the streets and to the community and us being from out here. It's just we relate."

"You can put the same things in different doors, but it's like our customer believes in it because it's here. Historically, you wasn't finding the Air Force 1 in just regular..."

"...mom and pop stores in Brooklyn or in Queens. You had to go uptown Bronx or uptown Manhattan area to find that. Yeah, Bronx, Harlem. What's beautiful is the Terror Squad Air Force 1 was only made in two sizes..."

"...when it was originally made, so it kind of was like a myth out there in the sneaker culture. A lot of sneakerheads dream to even see the shoe in person, so it's beautiful that the kids are even able to access it. There was no other shoe we could do, but that shoe."

"This right here is like a dream come true. You know what I'm saying? This goes back 30 years and even before us, that TS logo been around for years. We got at least something for our family. We came into this game with nothing."

"The community is our family because without them we wouldn't be here. Slo, Courtney, myself and Ruby work very hard and Joe as well, coming up with different programs and working with the community to hear..."

"...what we need as a community when it comes to financial literacy classes, when it comes to different AI programs that we could work with the kids. We're all working heavily to bring that into different communities and different stores that we work on as well."

"This is Slo, this is Fleezy, and this is JB. We here at UP NYC and you watching Talking Shop.