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Downtown Birmingham has been booming with new businesses and on Friday Sept. 24 Memory Lane the vintage clothing and sneaker boutique is opening its flagship location on 1st Ave. N.
The grand opening is set for 11 a.m. at 2320 1st Ave. North.
Memory Lane is a retail store that sells vintage clothing, streetwear and sneakers and a great place to find second-hand, good-condition sneakers as well as some of the newest styles and releases—like Yeezys, Jordans and OFF-White.
Business partners, Chris Smoot and Tanarius Hayes, both shared an interest in sneakers and styling clothes. As this interest and their entrepreneurial mindset collided, this business was bound to happen. It became a reality after Smoot saw a buy/sell/trade store in Paris years ago.
“I thought that it would be cool to have a store like that back home in Birmingham,” said Chris Smoot, co-owner.
In December 2017, Smoot opened Memory Lane’s first location in Bessemer. This is where Smoot met Tanarius Hayes—his future business partner. Hayes had been purchasing and reselling sneakers online when he met Chris and quickly jumped unto the team.
They opened their second location in Georgia in October 2020.
What makes Memory Lane unique is the way its obtains merchandise. Hayes told us that unlike most consignment stores, they become the sole owners of their items by buying outright—that way they can determine their own prices.
When asked what their favorite part of being a business owner in Birmingham, Hayes and Smoot said: “We are not quite sure yet because we haven’t opened, but at the moment we’d probably say the access and availability of being close to so many different businesses and places, especially restaurants. We LOVE to eat over here.”
Their goal for Memory Lane is to bring a selection of sought after sneakers and clothing that no other store in the city has to offer.
“We chose this location because we feel that it is in a nice, prime location. Plus, the interior of the store really caught our eyes,” Smoot and Hayes said.
You can find their new shop at 2320 1st Avenue North. Check out their other locations.
Bessemer: 217 19th Street North Bessemer, AL 35020
Georgia: 6880 Douglas Boulevard Suite 2-B Douglasville, GA 30135
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