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18-Year-Old Entrepreneur Opens SneakerVille Store
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Where many 18-year-olds join the workforce by working for someone else, one Millennial, Dominic Mashorda, has become his own boss. He has opened SneakerVille, a shoe store in downtown Youngstown, and become an entrepreneur.
“I’ve wanted to open my own business since I was 7 years old. I like being in charge,” he says. “I love the feeling of knowing I built my company from scratch and put my heart and soul into what I have. I like managing things and figuring things out on my own.”
Mashorda is one of a growing number of Millennials who place independence above the assurance of a regular paycheck. The career paths their parents took lack appeal. According to the Millenialbranding.com, about three Millennials in five are leaving their 9-to-5 jobs and to strike out on their own.
Having the added venue of a blossoming online marketplace, many young professionals find it easier than their predecessors to generate income through the Internet.
During his senior year, the Cardinal Mooney High School alumnus began selling shoes online and landed some wealthy customers from the National Football League and National Basketball Association he says. As graduation, approached last spring, Mashorda found himself at a crossroad of whether to go on to college or go after his dream.
“Before I had my storefront, I’d already been selling shoes online during my senior year,” he says, “and it was either go college or was I going to take my sneaker dream to the next level. I decided, why not open a sneaker store in Youngstown? I figured, why not take a risk?”
SneakerVille has a New York City-inspired décor that includes plush red walls, steel-pipe hangers, graffiti airbrush art and manila-colored wooden floors. Mashorda’s goal, he says, is to reinvent the landscape of fashion here and provide a haven for fashion connoisseurs such as himself.
SneakerVille, 25 W. Federal St., is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
The design of the store was heavily influenced by the Flight Club, a specialty sneaker boutique Mashorda visited often in New York City.
“I’ve been to Flight Club in New York City and it’s my favorite place in my world,” the 18-year-old explains. “It has the basketball-looking floors, the metal shelves and the glass case, so I kind of used it as an inspiration and brought my own ideas and tweaked it to my personal style. … I have a deep interest in, and love for, fashion. And there’s never been anything like that in Youngstown. I’m trying to bring some of that fashion to Youngstown and bring the sneaker culture to Youngstown.”
In addition to its urban aesthetics, the array of shoes SneakerVille offers also suggests the wider array of choices in New York City. These encompass limited edition and designer sneakers at prices that range between $125 and $7,000. The limited supply of select brands makes those shoes more expensive.
As a member of the sneaker subculture, Mashorda understands the lengths some collectors will go to get their hands on a pair of limited-edition shoes. Some go as far as paying thousands of dollars for shoes associated with entertainers and athletes, he relates.
“The quantity of a sample pair [of sneakers] could range from one to 30 pairs in the whole world, Mashorda explains. “Quantity is really what helps make the price. Nike could make LeBron James 12 sample pairs of shoes and then he’ll get 11 pairs that go to friends and family. And then [those 11] could keep being sold and prices continue to go up and up,” he says. “[A pair] could start out at $1,000 and by the time it gets through the hands of four collectors or resellers, the price could be doubled or quadrupled.”
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests a national trend of increasing self-employment with more than half of Millennials calling themselves entrepreneurs. However, Mashorda notes, managing a new business is hard work, harder than going to work for someone else. His experience so far leads him to still encourages his peers to pursue their dreams of entrepreneurship.
“You either follow your dream or you work for someone who followed theirs. My whole life I thought you grow up, open a business and you’re rich,” he relates. “Now I own a business and I see how much effort it takes. From the time I wake up to the time I go to bed, I’m breathing Sneakerville.”
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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