It seems that unlike hip hop, sneakers ain’t dead! Judging by the turn out for the Foot Locker Chapel St launch last Thursday 9th October, Melbourne is indeed live and kicking (pun intended). We rocked up around 15 minutes before the 5pm kick off to find a line as long as Naomi Campbell’s legs – all this for the chance to win a pair of AF-1 uptowns, the Nike Original 6 figurine pack and the ultimate golden ticket, the Nike Air Force 1 Gold Legacy Pack! With over 250 sneaker freaks and freakettes in line, the chances of taking home a prize were pretty good - especially for such a killer prize!
Aside from the well publicised mega-prizes, there was an additional 20 different giveaways on offer. On top of that, the first hundred or so kids in the line-up collected a Foot Locker gift voucher and a bonus copy of Sneaker Freaker to keep themselves amused in the afternoon sunshine, a nice reward for the truly dedicated!
At 5pm on the dot, Sneaker Freaker’s own Mafia took to the mic like a dog to a bone, amping the crowd for the ultimate giveaway...
Each winner was then ushered inside the new Foot Locker store to collect their booty and take victory photos, enjoy their new VIP status and 15 minutes of fame. Everyone left with massive grins, none bigger than Lil Shortiy and Autopsyjude from the Sneaker Freaker forum, who took home the Nike Gold Force Legacy pack and the Nike Original Six figurines respectively. Talk about a haul of gold! And worth a motza we might add... when and where did those Original Six dolls ever go on sale?
After the show it’s time for the after-party, in this case the VIP party – time to break a magnum of champagne on the bow of the good-ship Chapel St! The actual invites consisted of a Puma box containing only one shoe, so VIPs had to come along to collect the other half of the pair. A novel idea for sure, though it meant less hands to hold beers with so many red boxes in the room! With beats provided by the caffeine laced DJ Flagrant and appearances by Melbourne Tigers’ Ebi Ere, DJ Peril, b-girls Stash and Poney, Paris Wells and the entire Sneaker Freaker fam, the VIPs were in full effect. Liam Harris and Simon Milla were there representing the big cat, mingling with Rachel Wells from the Age and The Vine’s Melanie Hick and Tobias Allen. An inspiring speech by Foot Locker head honcho Lew Kimble wrapped up proceedings and added a personal footnote to the opening of their newest store.
Massive thanks to everyone that was involved, including Puma for their sponsorship and the crew at Foot Locker, including the General Manager of Chapel St, Sonia Sansil and Lew Kimble, who amazingly stuck around the whole day to take photos and congratulate all the winners. The new store is a welcome addition to Melbourne’s most popular shopping precinct and judging by the mix of proddy on offer, it’s now a solid must-see on the Chapel St shuffle. To all the heads that lined up hoping to win a prize, we hope to see you at more events, launches and swapmeets. Viva La Sneaker!
MAFIA
VISIT THE STORE NOW!
FOOT LOCKER
525 Chapel St
South Yarra
