I conducted a few interviews, including coworkers, and friends that work in retail shoe stores or the corporate building. I gained lots of insights from each individual and used this as more information to include in my website. 

 

First, I held a personal interview with my friend, Tori Brown who works for Footaction. Tori has worked for various shoe stores in the past also, including Footlocker and Finishline. Tori mentioned that he has seen numerous fights, arguments and chaotic situations occur during sneaker releases he’s worked for. He adds that he is a sneaker fan himself and has been on the other end waiting on line with friends for shoes. He states, “I have a passion for sneakers and have collected Retro Air Jordans for years, but if it comes down to fighting and being killed over them, it’s definitely not worth it.” He mentioned that there have always been a couple small arguments on sneaker release days but he believes it’s gotten worse over the past few years. He states that he remembers waiting in line for the Retro 11 Cool Greys at Bayshore Mall in December 2010, and there were not any fights. He did say that there was one argument from people trying to skip the line, but nothing violent. As Jordan’s began to become harder to get, as the lines got longer over the years, that’s when the violence began to increase drastically.

 

Tori says that last year he waited for the Jordan XI Gamma Blues, which led to lots of violence as shown on my home page. He explained that he was not hurt himself after leaving from purchasing his shoes, but there was deifintely lots of chaos that day. He continously stated how saddened he was to hear about people being killed, robbed and beaten in different states over sneakers. He stated, “This has to stop, action has to be taken for this, before it gets worse.” Retail shoe stores has changed protocols on how people are able to buy shoes, such as using a raffles but it has not completely stopped the violence. This was designed to avoid the long lines wrapped around the corner, but all stores do not follow this protocol. There are some that still want people to form a line and use a first come first served basis. This adds to the violence happening Tori adds. After explaining my idea to Tori about using Technology to prevent the chaos, he agreed that it would be a great idea. He said that this could eliminate these issues and take the stress off of the workers in the shoes store, like himself, who has to deal with all these people. He lastly stated that technology has benefited a lot of worldwide companies, and believes that it could be an advantage for retail shoe stores also.  Since everyone has cell phones, iPods, iPads and laptops, my idea could work great for these companies.

 

I also conducted an interview with Kendal Kimmons, who works for Footlocker Corporate. He expressed his answers with passion and started off stating that all of this unnecessary violence over tennis shoes is simply not worth it. The fact the different sneakers come out every week and people wait in line all the time shows that people are very passionate about getting the shoes and it’s not fair for people who are not violent but just wants to purchase a pair. He explained that shoe companies have changed the process of things as far as getting shoes. He himself has suggested different ideas to supervisors, along with other employees about helping this issue, but none seen to fall through. Kendall says that years you were able to just go to the store and purchase your shoes, simply as that. Since people have become violent as the lines have become longer waiting on shoe stores to open. Kendall mentioned that he believes there needs to be a better plan initiated so that this issue can be resolved before, because it’s not getting any better. “A shoe is not worth losing your life over, or taking another person’s life” he states. I agree with this quote and believe that a change needs t occur before more people get killed or hurt over sneakers.  After presenting my idea of using technology to help this issue, Kendall stated that he liked the idea, and believe it could cut down on the riots. He says that if he could change it all, he would just have all of the retro Jordans sold online and not in stores. He believes this is the only way to end it all.