Bodega are just one of many indie boutiques feeling the cruel double sting of an uncertain economy and a rapidly changing sneaker situation in 2025. Their innovative Boston store opened its Snapple doors way back in 2006 to huge acclaim. In 2018, they secured a second location in Los Angeles. However, the downtown LA store remains their only brick-and-mortar outlet after Boston closed down earlier this year.
Behind the scenes, Bodega have been plagued by major retail challenges from order fulfilment to rising rents and the loss of the Yeezy business. Nike's downgrade hasn't helped balance the books either. A few weeks ago, the 20-year-old business nearly capsized and the entire office staff was let go. It was a sad day for the legendary store and we feel gutted for our friends and family who worked there. Twenty years of grind and progress were nearly lost on the rocks.
Despite the endless challenges, owner Jay Gordon is determined to make things right. As he reveals in this raw and unflinching interview, he still feels optimistic and is ready to get ‘scrappy again’ to build the brand back up once again.
Hi Jay, thanks for taking some time, it’s obviously been a tough time for Bodega and even tougher to now talk about it publicly. When would you say things started to get tough? Is this an industry-wide issue?
2021 was our best year ever, but in 2022 we started having fulfilment issues, both internally and then with a third party company. The external issues of a general market slowdown and losing the Yeezy business didn't help, but we had been through those things before. The internal issues came on the back of us increasing payroll and rent costs considerably, and we didn't pivot quickly enough. We started to borrow money for the first time since opening the company and dug ourselves into a pretty big hole. I take full responsibility. I should have made more drastic moves much faster, but I took too long to act.
We know you have to be careful what you say, but where are you at now? The LA store will stay open but you’ve had to let most of the team go. How close were you to pulling the pin?
I was planning to shut down all operations last Friday, until a conversation with a friend at Nike. They said they would still find a way to support us and help us get back on our feet. It was such a kind gesture, and one I'm not sure I would have made in their place. There's a lot of talk about partnership in this business, but it's rare and amazing when it actually happens. I started reaching out to other brands, explaining the dire position we were in, and more than a few were down to help and to try to come up with creative solutions to work down our debt. I still unfortunately had to go forward with letting our entire corporate team go, but I'm going to keep the LA door and online store open with the help of a very small and dedicated team of our LA staff. We are going to get scrappy again. We are all going to have to wear multiple hats and claw our way back, but I have faith in our people and our goal.
Really tough to let your creative and business team go as well… Was that the emotionally hardest part of the last few months?
It was terrible. We have been in the trenches together since 2006 and have been there for each other's highs and lows. My only solace is other companies will snatch them up quickly.
How have the brands responded? It’s a big business after all, but when you’ve been around for 20 years, hopefully there’s some goodwill.
I'm still in the process of reaching out to all of our brands, but so far they have been great. Neutra, an amazing sneaker brand out of France, offered to send us a pallet of shoes to help with the cause, and I have dozens of calls lined up with other brands that want to help in some way. It's been amazing.
The Boston store was such an iconic sneaker location. What happened there? Typical greedy landlord?
I loved that store. It was the 21st location I had looked at originally, and it felt right from the first time we walked in. So much of our shared Bodega history happened there, but it was time to go. Rents had gone up massively, but really it was just too small for all of the brands we had picked up. I have another fantastic location picked out in Boston, if we can get back on our feet.
We know you had some recent issues with sending shoes out, are they close to being solved?
We have about 1600 orders that the fulfilment company wouldn't ship without payment (that we didn't have), but I made some pretty desperate moves to get them that money today. I deeply apologise to every one of our customers that have been waiting far too long for their orders. We are taking fulfilment back in-house and will hopefully never be in that situation again.
Well that is good news, you were copping heat. They totally deserve what they paid for but hopefully they might be a bit more understanding after reading this.
We deserve it. It was unacceptable.
Do you still believe in the fundamentals of the sneaker game? How do you see the future for Bodega?
I am optimistic. I don't have particularly high hopes for the rest of 2025, but I think we will see things get better and better in 2026. We've had a pretty strong washout, and when it comes back, I think it will be with a vengeance. As for Bodega, I think we can come back strong. It's going to take some time and a bit of luck (and forgiveness), but the market is more interesting with small independent stores in it. We need to all support our local sneaker store or record store or bookstore. Our neighbourhoods and cities will be a better place with them.
Look back through Bodega's collaborative history right here.
