“Street wear” is beginning to make an impact on the Mill Avenue fashion scene, with new retailers opening among the boutiques and stores already found in the area.
Me Phi and Bobby Fresh, two new stores on Mill Avenue, sell “street wear” clothing — a genre that combines the cultures of hip-hop, skateboarding, snowboarding and urban life, catering to a market previously unseen in the area.
“We saw that there was a demand for this [style] out here,” said Derek Bourque, co-owner of Me Phi. “It’s something that we’re passionate about. Fashion, clothes, music, sports — they all intertwine.”
Maurice Chappell, who graduated from ASU last year with a bachelor’s degree of interdisciplinary studies in business and communication, interned for Me Phi and is now an employee.
“Me Phi, along with Bobby Fresh, is basically bringing the street wear aspect of clothing to Mill Avenue,” Chappell said. “We stock stuff that’s relevant right now — stuff that sells well in Arizona.”
Located on Mill Avenue between Fifth and Sixth Streets, Me Phi opened in January after transferring from its Scottsdale location. Bourque and co-owner Javon Walker combined their passions for culture and clothing to present a unique look to the Phoenix area.
“A lot of people … their clothing — it’s part of who they are,” Bourque said. “It’s how they separate themselves from the next person. It’s part of their identity. … We’re giving them different options.”
Near Mill Avenue on Fifth Street, Bobby Fresh recently opened its flagship store. Unlike Me Phi, which offers many different brands from local designers as well as Los Angeles fashions, Bobby Fresh treats its storefront like a showroom, offering the latest lineups that can also be found on its Web site.
“It started with us doing random concepts that we felt people would like,” said Rob Preston, creator and owner of Bobby Fresh. “Street wear was still kind of new at that point.”
Preston started another store in 1999 called Livin-N-HipHop, located just south of Southern Avenue on Mill Avenue. After selling that store six months ago to focus on the Bobby Fresh brand, Preston decided to open a new store dedicated solely to his product.
“We feel this is more marketing,” he said. “Maybe they might not come in and buy stuff, but it will expose new people to the brand itself … and tap into the market locally.”
The clothing offered by both stores is similar — crisp tees with culturally relevant designs and bright colors — but they don’t hold the same product.
Both stores’ owners are familiar with each other, and though Me Phi carried the Bobby Fresh brand in the past, the store owners pledged to keep their offerings unique and exclusive.
“I think that we’re going to draw more attention,” Chappell said. “Mill has lacked this for so long, I think it’s what they needed. I think the shop is going to be very successful. The sky is the limit right now.”
While different stores in the Mill Avenue area have met their demise in this economic downturn, Bourque is confident in his store and the service it brings to the area.
“If you have a good business model, if you build a dedicated following, if you sell a good product and if you have good customer service, you can withstand those hard, troubled times,” he said. “A store that doesn’t have that will probably have to close down before you do. And when the economy does come back, you’re already there.”
Reach the reporter at joseph.schmidt@asu.edu