WEBVTT
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okay, so welcome to our podcast.
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This is a little bit different today, because this podcast is a spin-off of our radio show.
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All right, welcome to my podcast.
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I got a cool guest today.
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I'm pretty excited about it because I've been trying to lock this guy down for a while.
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Ryan Gazinski, the owner of Guest List.
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The shoe store yes, right, and it's not just any shoe store.
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How do you explain what your shoe store is?
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I mean, guest List is like an exclusive vibe.
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We have, you know, a ton of different shoes and apparel.
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We kind of cater to like athletes, artists, and we bring a bunch of different apparel that's not in this state to this state so, um, I know a little bit about your story and I want to get back to your story in the beginning.
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But let's talk about where you are now, because now you got something in san francisco, you open a new location.
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Like what, where are your locations?
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Right?
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now.
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So right now we uh, we have a location in Scottsdale Fashion Square, we have a location in Arizona Mills Mall, and then we have a new concept in San Francisco and that's called Levels, and my partner in that is Ronnie 2k, and we built a three level experience basically.
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So we have an event space on the top floor, we have a retail on the street level and then we have a speakeasy in the bottom level.
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So it's the levels um.
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My son dutch is here, he's.
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He's my co-host today.
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So when he says ronnie 2k you know exactly who that is yeah, man, it's the face of 2k.
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Yeah, nba 2k yeah, we explain a little bit more.
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What do you mean?
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he's like the 2k media guy.
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Like when you think of 2k, you think of ronnie 2.
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You got Flight yelling at him on stream.
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I know Flight, flight's a guy that says that he's always like man F Ronnie.
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Yeah, Ronnie takes the good and the bad for 2K for sure.
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Yeah, he's sick.
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But we partnered up.
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Guy Fieri actually introduced us and we were flying back from an all-star on Guy's private jet.
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We had hit it off on a conversation.
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We were a jet, we had hit it off on a conversation, we were doing all-star, all-star, all-star and we were like yo, we gotta do one san francisco's coming, it's your hometown, you have a space there like let's bring this to life.
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And he, basically, we decided to try to bring the game, like the 2k experience, because he brings all the apparel into the game.
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So let's make a physical location to where, like, game meets real world and we tie all the apparel in so you can come buy it at the space.
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Where in San Francisco is it?
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It's located like five minutes from the Chase Center.
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So right as you walk out our door, hit a left, walk down 100 steps, you're at the Chase front door.
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Explain the Guy Fieri.
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I always say his name wrong, but Guy, like connection, like how did you get to be with him?
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So Guy's a wrong but guy constant like connection, like how did you get to be with him?
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So, guys, is a really good friend of mine, one of our, a football player family of mine um, that was really bad.
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So they're gonna have to edit that, but uh, yeah, it's all good, my guy, marcel reese, introduced me and guy and me and guy hit it off rider.
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Actually guy's son, me and him became real close.
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I was styling him, giving him all his shoes, taking care of him.
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Then you know guys, his heart is huge.
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So he just was like you're part of the family, basically.
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You know, every All-Star we'd be together, we'd run in all these rooms, have the dopest parties and he put me on to many great experiences and then it's history.
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So we just became family.
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You to Johnny 2K.
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Next thing.
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You know you're opening up this Ronnie 2K.
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Yeah, now you get the hang of it.
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Sorry, man, that's why I have him here, exactly Alright.
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So now, and how's it going?
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How's the new location going?
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New location's amazing.
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It's a new concept, so it's interesting.
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We're still trying to figure it all out, but we have.
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I mean, we just had a watch party for the Warriors and we did it with prize picks and that went amazing.
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We had about 150 people down there enjoying betting on the game live.
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Right there, we gave away a Jeff Hamilton jacket.
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It was a vibe, Really really cool, the Jeff Hamilton dude.
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I've seen him on Instagram at the Suns games.
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Right yeah, what's his story?
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He's amazing man.
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He's another family of mine.
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We actually we met many years ago all--star as well and we've hit it off ever since.
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He's like the creator of the jacket, so like when right the iconic kobe picture where kobe's like holding the trophy, like that's jeff hamilton.
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He made that jacket when jordan won all the, all his championships, all them jackets were jeff hamilton.
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But jeff's been doing this for like 30, 40 I mean I feel like 40 years, right, but he's he's a talent with the jackets and he knows everybody yeah.
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Okay, so let's get.
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I want to get to you a lot, actually, because I know a little bit about your story, yeah, but like, where are you from?
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I'm actually from Connecticut, mm-hmm, but I grew up here in Arizona.
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I went to high school out here, where did you go to high school out?
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Here.
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So where'd you go to high school?
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I went to high school at Dobson for a little while, and then I graduated from a charter school, um ACP, out in Mesa.
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So yeah.
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So then what, like, how do you get from a charter school?
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For how do you get from Dobson to this?
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Um, basically, I mean, I always had a passion for just buying and selling products.
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I had many jobs, you know, just always had a passion for that.
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But I got a job at Foot Locker at 16.
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So that's where, like shoes, fashion, culture, that whole thing, it was like birth right there.
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Which Foot Locker.
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I started at Fiesta Mall.
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Man, that's not even there anymore, not even there.
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All right, so you get to, which is crazy, because I'll give you the other one.
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So I started at Fiesta Mall and then my first store where guest list really started.
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It was called Swag and it started at Fiesta Mall.
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Oh, really 15 years ago.
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I used to bus tables for my dad's restaurant in eighth grade at Fiesta Mall.
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What was the restaurant?
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It was called King's Table.
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It was an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord.
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Wow, that's crazy.
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It was so gross because back then you could smoke in the restaurants and I was bussing.
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So I was 13, 14.
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And I had to take mashed potatoes that had cigarette butts in it and put them on it.
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It was terrible, but I just had a core memory of Fiesta Mall when I was a kid.
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That's the core memory.
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That's the core memory.
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That and my dad.
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I remember when they were building the restaurant, my dad took me in the kitchen.
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I had to pee so bad I got to stand in the kitchen.
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He picked me up, put me in the kitchen sink and I peed into the sink and I thought that was really cool.
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But okay, you're 16.
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What yeah, dude?
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He said you ain't let me pee in no studio yet.
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So you're 16.
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You're a footlocker, yeah.
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What's your job?
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At Footlocker I started as a part-time employee.
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It literally took me like four or five interviews.
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I would go.
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I wanted the job so bad I went back for like two months straight, before they even gave me an interview.
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I would just go dress up, put my button up on, you know, go in there like please give me a job, please give me a job.
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Finally they took a chance on me.
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I worked myself up from a part-time employee all the way to becoming a store manager and I mean over the years I won like highest sales book for like the region, for the state.
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They gave me plaques Like they took the gamble and that was well worth it.
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But I was willing to work really hard.
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That was the one key.
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I was willing to scrub the tiles from the front to the back, do whatever job came my way.
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I wasn't big for nothing.
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I just I would just wanted to make a name for myself and I was just doing it at Foot Locker and at that time, like without going to school or not, like that, it was pretty much college for me.
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But I didn't really know that till I got six years in and I realized then I just went to college for business, like cause it taught me everything.
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And then I really just like I finally got my store to become a store manager and was like, oh yeah, we just need to open my own store.
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So one year I've had of, one year of getting to become a store manager after working five years to get there.
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I literally called my DM and was like I'm opening my own store and she was like you're crazy, you're, you're not ready, it's not gonna work.
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Well, I wish you luck you know how old are you at this time 21 21.
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You're ready to open your own store?
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Yeah, but that means you must have made relationships with shoe people.
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What gives you the inspiration to open your own store?
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Like I said, the passion for buying and selling a product was always there.
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You know, then I did meet many great relationships, athletes Like I worked at Chandler Mall for a while so all the Cardinalsinals dudes were coming in, like all the rookie cardinals dudes would always come through to buy shoes.
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So when they came to buy shoes, like we would always exchange numbers, I'd, you know, try to hold them some shoes, get them some stuff that was like limited or exclusive, that they couldn't find, and then basically just my name just stuck in some phones and like be like, hey, ryan, I'm looking for jordan, you know 17.
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And I'd be like, oh, I got you, you know what I.
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And I'd be like, oh, I got you, you know what I'm saying.
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And then I'd go find, I go source it, find it and then bring it back.
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So what'd you do?
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Call your Nike guys and you do me a favor.
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No, I just there were.
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There was these like sneaker shows back in the day that were like all over the like.
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You know, it was like there was like sneaker con and you would didn't read any motivational books.
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You did what.
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What did your parents do for a living when you were growing up?
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my dad built airplane engines at honeywell and my mom was a hairdresser wow, man.
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Yeah, what about brothers and sisters?
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Not only child.
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So you didn't read anything, this is just instinct just added in yeah, I'm gonna work my.
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So your parents were like you need to go to college no, they I mean they didn't even really force me.
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I kind of got in some trouble as a youngster.
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So you know, that steered me like a route.
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And then I realized in that route, like this ain't really what I want to do.
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You know, I really want to do something.
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I really want to make a name.
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I really want to like become something.
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So I literally just clicked.
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I don't even know what it was, I just knew I was going to let's go do it.
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I just went right to it and I never looked back and I just stayed running this route and it's been a marathon.
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But when you got in trouble were you already at Foot Locker.
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Yeah.
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Like you, were at risk of losing your job at Foot Locker, and that scared you.
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They took care of me, man.
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They came in and fought for me.
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Foot Locker did yeah, my manager.
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She came to court for me.
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They got me on a work release program.
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Oh, so you got serious trouble.
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Yeah, we got to edit that.
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But yeah, yeah, that's good.
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Yeah, I did, and they really backed me and I really kept spilling my passion back into them because, I mean, somebody cared.
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You know what.
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I'm saying I think a lot of youngsters and a lot of people that are going through things they don't have want to be associated or overlook it.
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It's a tough, it's a tough thing.
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So the more that I try to get back to all these kids nowadays and like just me just giving game and running the back, I'll try to steer any of them away from doing bad stuff and just stick to it, because it just it reroutes you.
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You know what I'm saying?
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You take time, you lose time.
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It's not worth it.
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So you gotta.
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There's only one path.
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It's the right path.
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There's no.
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Is there somebody that, like, inspired you in footlocker?
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Is there somebody that was like your mentor that you looked up to?
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No, no, I mean, there's nobody not really.
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I mean I had a.
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I had a really good manager and then a really good like uh well, she was like a senior manager, so yeah, I mean I really they were cool to you.
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You'd call them up, say, man, I need some help yeah just just always.
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She was a manager for like 25 years so she was just.
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You know.
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I could talk to her about everything.
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She understood, she related and she loved that I worked hard, so she was willing to back me.
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So when you decide to open up your own store, you said 21 years old.
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21 years old.
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How do you get the finances and where do you?
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go, 20 grand saved up and what so?
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Here's the crazy thing.
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So the like, back in the day, the leasing lady at Fiesta, where there were some people up in in the office that I used to sell like bootleg wallets and bags and purses and watches Cause I was already, like I told you, I was buying and selling products I used to set up at 40th street at the swap meet and sell those products.
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I would literally buy a booth and it was $25 to buy a space, set up, sell those products and make a great money every weekend.
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And then I took that I was selling them at the mall.
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The leasing lady was like, well, she knew me from Foot Locker and then so I was selling her some.
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And then she's like, well, how are you going to open a store?
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You can't really sell this stuff here.
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I was like, no, I'm going to sell apparel and shoes.
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And like I pitched her this dream and she was like, yeah, I don't know.
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So I partnered with basically like my older brother, like a mentor that I did have in my life, and I was like, look, I want to open this store.
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You know I love this.
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Um, let's do it.
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You know what I'm saying so I have my little 20 grand and he backed the other 20 grand and we opened the doors.
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that's crazy, crazy and then, how do you get the relationships with like?
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So if you've got Nike and Adidas and Puma, like, is that you just call them up?
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Hey, I'm opening a store, or did you have those relationships at Foot Locker?
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No, so we didn't.
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We always have done shoes not through an account.
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We've done shoes on like a consignment basis basically.
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So like, since I was doing shoes and collecting shoes, like shoes have paid my whole life, like I had, you know, at one point in my collection I of shoes and then when they were like stock, so as they went up in price, I would take them and sell them and buy more and just play the stocks games with shoes.
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And still to this day, like I still play stock game with shoes.
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You know, I've only lost a little bit in the process what year was this, by the way, uh?
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2011.
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We opened the store you know, the first high-end shoe store like yours that I ever saw, ever heard of, was called high point high point adrian wilson's store, adrian Wilson's store.
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It was a great store, I know, and it's funny because he would hook me up or I would have to Him and I had the same size shoe.
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So whenever he got a cool pair of shoes, if he didn't take it then I wasn't able to get it.
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That was a great store.
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See, they were a real retail account accounts.
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So we had we had to go the other route.
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So we basically went to find streetwear, which was like you know it was.
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It was a weird market because it didn't really exist yet.
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Foot lockers weren't buying streetwear like the mainstream stores weren't really buying it.
00:13:13.615 --> 00:13:23.886
But it was like a booming market because, um, I mean, it was like exclusive, it was different, it wasn't for the masses, it was like so basically there's a clothing show in vegas called magic.
00:13:23.886 --> 00:13:27.192
It's a magic convention or agenda.
00:13:27.192 --> 00:13:28.903
So those were like the two big clothing shows.
00:13:28.923 --> 00:13:39.946
So you would go to these clothing shows and it'd be, uh, designers from atlanta, chicago, new york, you know all these different places, and they'd basically be showing off their apparel and you could buy it wholesale.
00:13:39.946 --> 00:13:41.910
So, and some of them had names.
00:13:41.910 --> 00:13:48.972
I mean, there was some, you know, solid brands that were running around at that point that were at the show nike, puma, new balance, all them were at the show.
00:13:48.972 --> 00:13:51.687
But a store like mine they wouldn't pay no attention to, right?
00:13:51.687 --> 00:13:55.466
You know they would pay attention to adrian wilson, you know, he was an athlete, you know.