Counter Culture Store
I started Counter Culture Store in 2000 after returning home from Costa Rica in my mid twenties. The first location I opened was in Deep Ellum, which is an Arts and Live Music district in downtown Dallas. I started the retail concept form the ground up developing a business plan, a floor plan, branding strategy and overall concept design. I learned the formula from Jim Buckley who I met while living in Costa Rica. Sean Leonard, a friend from Huntington Beach, CA, created the original Counter Culture Store logo with the two C’s and the stars.
The privately owned company had a distinctive ambiance that set it apart from other boutiques in the area. With its Tropical meets Urban influence, the store had a fashionable charisma, welcoming customers to something different than a typical chain store. From stocking the hardest to find vintage attire, and re-constructed eco friendly lines, to organizing it by style and color, the selection and arrangement at Counter Culture was a step above similar retailers.
In 2005 I expanded the Retail Brand and opened a second location in Dallas Texas at an Urban Shopping and Living Center in Mockingbird Station. At this time I joined up with a friend and artist Sean Leonard and retail manager and wife Lyndsey Coburn, who assisted in giving the brand and concept a professional and polished look. The second store was a first of its kind featuring not only recycled vintage clothing but up and coming ecological and action sport brands carried under the same roof. We also included a large open wall where we held monthly art shows displaying art work from the areas up and coming artists and designers.
Later In October 2007, exactly seven years after I opened my first store, we sold the Counter Culture brand including an online store, social marketing campaign, employment manuals, office software and the second brick and motor location. I then relocated to San Diego California and focused my attention on the Wholesale Company and changing the way Vintage Clothing would be supplied in the future.
