34th Street

So I went back over to the Manhattan Mall this morning to see if I could score a pair of those Starbury Crossovers (the $9.99 faux Uptowns). No dice. All out. I ended up picking up a pair of the Cyclones (the $9.99 faux New Balance 574s) instead—which honestly don't feel much different than the real thing, and are actually pretty well-made—before walking across 33rd Street to hit up the FootAction on 34th and 7th. I figured I'd duck through the big Foot Locker (which has entrances on both 33rd and 34th) on the way.

But as I got close, I noticed a huge crowd by the 33rd Street entrance, held back by barriers. The crowd was mostly black, mostly young adults. My immediate thought was, "who's inside?" I figured it was some kind of an autograph signing for a new release. Then again, it's Wednesday. And this was the back entrance. You'd think, if it was an appearance, the line would be out front, on the 34th Street side. That's the way it has been when people appeared there in the past (I think I caught up with Michael Finley there once).

As I got closer, though, I saw that this line was different. Everyone was holding pieces of paper, which turned out to be applications. Job applications! For Foot Locker! And there were at LEAST 100 people out there, at 11:30 on a Wednesday. Either times are getting hard indeed, or people really want that employee discount.

Didn't see all that much today on my rounds. Green Bean Vs (photo stolen from hypebeast.com) were available pretty much everywhere—Dr. Jay's, Foot Locker, FootAction—as were the women's Vs. The Green Beans are kind of dope, in a flashy, All-Star game kind of way, but I'd wait for the grape ice/new emerald OG colorway, which drops this weekend.

But if you don't want to drop the $135 on Vs (I don't blame you), there is a lot of dope stuff to be had for way less. Dr. Jay's especially had a lot of flavor on sale—colorful Puma retros, classic adidas, low-key Nikes. There's so much dropping on a daily basis that nearly nothing sells out at retail anymore.

Except for maybe the Starburys.