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Hollars and Dollars Presents: Exclusive Interview with Livestock

by Mista Kay Himself on August 17, 2009

Check this right here! If you want some exclusive sneaks, where you be? Livestock! If you want Creams and BBC, where you be? Livestock! We at Hollars got to chat with the people behind the very successful boutique known as Livestock to talk about the story behind it all. If you live in Vancouver, you probably already been there like a million times buying Tee’s and what not. If you stop in Toronto, they got one too! But now we got one in Calgary too, so if you haven’t checked it out yet…get on it!

Address:
103-2115 4th Street S.W. Calgary
Hours:
11am – 7pm Mon – Fri
11am – 6pm Sat
11am – 5pm Sun

Who all is involved in the start of Livestock?

Day one started with myself (Garry Bone) having an idea to open a new shop, day two brought along a friend Kenta Kimira and then a few days later we teamed up with our promoter friends Garret Louie and Rob Rizk. That is the OG crew.

There is not that much information on the history and background of Livestock. Tell us the history?

The roots of livestock started at a small skate shop in white rock BC called The Boardkennel. When Nike started to sell SB in Canada we were one of the first people to deal with them. The more and more I got tired of what was going on with the skate world, the more and more I was drawn towards what was going on in Japan at the time. I decided that I wanted to open another store and Livestock was born.

You recently got a review as the 3rd top sneaker boutique in the world. How do you feel about that and how do you maintain that title?

Even to be considered one of the best in whatever it is you choose to do is amazing. I think it’s something we have created and maintained by keeping a solid company. The people we have been able to work with are amazing, from the first event we ever had with Devilock to the project we did with Es and The Hundreds and everyone in between(Brknhome, Adidas, Puma, Virus, Write-left, Nike, Madfoot, Reigning Champ, Freshjive, Stussy). This is a list of the best of the best.

Many dream of starting their own Tee shirt company or starting their own skate shop/boutique. Both are tough goals to achieve with success. You guys at Livestock have managed to sit at the top of the sneaker/shop poll as well as being a “Livestock” brand of its own. There are not that many shop Tee’s that I want to represent, but you maintain a high level as a shop and as a brand.
How do you manange the brand aspect of the shop while maintaining the shop aspect of Livestock?

First off, thanks for the kind words. I think the key to any project is to not over think it and just let it happen. When you over think things you end up trying too hard and everything falls apart. I always relate things back to skateboarding and when you over think a trick you always fuck it up. You can always see through that dude who is trying to hard. Just let it happen.

It’s hard enough to run a successful business in one city let alone in a whole country. How do you manage the shops and keep up with the ever changing demand of the public?

We don’t let a market dictate to us what to carry, we show the market what we like and lucky for us they’ve always accepted it. As far as running the shops across the country we have great back end and great crew. We run our business as tight as we do our image.

How did you get started with the very popular Livestock Block Party?

This is going to seem repetitive but it was one of the least thought out thing we’ve done. A few of us we’re hanging out at the shop talking about how sick a summer ending block party would be. I had nothing to do that afternoon so I headed up to city hall and got the permits. 18 days later we shut the block down and threw one of the most epic parties I’ve ever been involved in.

Any interesting stories that resulted from the Block Parties?

There are tons of stories but whenever I think about it all I picture in my head is this………

and everyone leaving with a smile. It’s amazing that we get to do this…to shut a street down and just have a real back yard BBQ.

I’m psyched about the teaming up of Livestock and Groupseven. We need more of these kinds of shops in Calgary so that people are exposed to the street scene and the fashion aspect of it all. I’m still surprised by the number of people that roll into Groupseven and ask how long they have been around for. We need more boutiques around here and more people that are conscious of fashion and street culture. What do you have in store for the Calgary edition of Livestock?

Things are shaping up now for us out there and will only get better and better on the product side. We will be bringing an art show through there later this summer and we’ll make sure that we host events and help people like the guys at Groupseven and the crew at HiFi Club to create a good scene out in Calgary.

Seriously…I’ve been following the Yeezy frenzy and have been trying to get my hands on them Yeezy’s. I was amazed you guys even dropped the whole Yeezy series in limited amounts at the grand opening. What the hell?!?! The black Yeezy’s were supposed to be all gone but you brought them back!!! You got an Yeezy stash somewhere?…Livestock is amazing…(Sell me a pair please…)

If you only have one foot and are a size nine I got your back.

I didn’t like that leg anyways…
Last words? Advice? Anything you wanna say that sounds cool at the end of an interview?

Nope.

Hollar Your 5′s

Things you need to get through your day?

1. Black Berry
2. ipod
3. Earl grey tea
4. Fruit salad
5. An internet connection

Products to keep your eyes open for…

1. Any new car from Ferrari
2. Livestock x PUMA x ??? coming this winter
3. Brkn home and anything from the mind of Kenta Goto
4. Livestock x Adidas round two
5. Aston Martin DBS

Sites you check to stay on top of the game?

1. PLANET F1 http://www.planet-f1.com/
2. MOTO GP dot COM http://www.motogp.com/
3. Livestock Blog http://deadstock.ca/blog2/
4. Axis of Oversteer http://axisofoversteer.blogspot.com/
5. The Berrics http://www.theberrics.com/

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