Who would have thought that what started in a garage would become bigger, better, and be known as a melting pot for the streetwear community in Manila?
Having opened its doors to the public a year ago, Cop Garden—dubbed as the Round Two of the Philippines, celebrated its first anniversary on Sunday, September 22. Located inside an old building in Makati, Cop Garden has built its reputation as the go-to store for buying, selling and trading for the most-hyped streetwear brands and rarest streetwear items in the market.
The turn up at Cop Garden’s first anniversary serves as a true testament for all the hard work that Adrian Garcia and his crew put in day in and day out. This was obvious as hundreds of people flocked to the store to line up hoping to get their hands on crazy-hyped sneakers and apparels for steal prices. Do you know what’s crazier? Some even camped out the night before the store’s opening at 1:00 PM. The craziest part? A guy even flew out of Iloilo City!
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“Today, the one-year anniversary is like a little crazy. Because, we have everyone coming in, which is awesome. Because you know it is nice to see all the support and everyone coming in after a year,” Garcia added as people of all ages came through and patiently waited in line for their turn to buy from the store.
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The line got so long at one point that lining up means literally waiting on the first floor of the building before being able to reach the third floor wherein Cop Garden is situated. But everyone who lined up was persistent and willing to stay for long hours just to get their fix, including Marco Lorenzo M. Ong, 12 years old, who was all smiles after getting his pair of Adidas Alphaedge 4D despite lining up for four hours.
Cop Garden is establishing itself as a household name for ‘hypebeasts’ and sneakerheads as the store’s cult following continuously grows. Garcia also cited that it is nice to have different personalities come and visit the store. “It’s good because it means that they trust us,” he added.
“It means that the popularity is growing every day, you know. We had an NBA player; we have PBA players, UAAP players, actors, actresses, models, [and] YouTubers coming in every day. The fact that they’re getting into that kind of culture; the brands, the sneakers, it’s awesome.” Garcia explained.
He also doesn’t think that there is an existing competition in the resell market in the country. “The more shops, the better,” Garcia said.
“Because that means that the culture is growing, more people are getting into it. There are not enough shops to fill the need of how many people want these kinds of shoes and these shirts and these brands in this country,” he added.
Success is not made overnight and running a business is not easy but Garcia and his crews’ dedication and hard work paid off.
When asked about his advice for those who want to enter the business, Garcia has this to say, “Just keep going. Don’t stop, because the second you stop, the second you think it’s not worth it, it’s not worth my time or I’m not going to benefit a thing out of this. Then it’s not gonna be worth anything, you’re not going to get there. Just keep on grinding, grinding, [and] grinding. If you see a steal if you gotta drive three hours to get it, go get it. If you have to fly to a different country to buy something, go fly there. If you have to stay up until 6:00 a.m. just to finish an event and make sure everything works properly then finish it. Don’t stop where it is. Just keep grinding, because once it does happen it will pay off fifty thousand times believe me.”
Garcia also admitted that there still plenty of things to work on and plenty of room to grow for Cop Garden from a business standpoint. He also hinted of getting a bigger place and having more staff in the future. “Big things next year. I can’t promise anything but that’s the main goal,” he added.
One thing is for sure. The best is still yet to come for Cop Garden.
Cop Garden
851 Antonio Arnaiz Ave, Legazpi Village
Makati, Metro Manila
Instagram: @copgarden
