From all-white Nikes detailed with woven and patent leather to multicolored Onitsuka Tiger designs, shoes at The 400 are a step beyond your normal sneakers.
Since opening their Golden Triangle store at 1010 Bannock St. in late 2005, the three Denver guys behind the branding/product design/retail venture have built a following among local sneakerheads, branching out to be part of the Belmar cooperative A++ last year.
They’re set to open a third outpost, this time in Curtis Park by the end of the month.
Randy Kleiner, one of three partners, says the store at 2445 Larimer St. is the first retail on the block. “We like to get out in front of developing neighborhoods, to go where it’s new and interesting in the city. This feels like the next kind of space.”
Kleiner refers to the store’s customers as “seekers” and says the 400 “isn’t the kind of place people find by accident” but a destination they seek after hearing about it from a friend or its website, the400.net. Once there, they find shoes “that are well-designed and low in production numbers,” says Kleiner. Prices start at about $60 and go up to $250. Cool tees, hoodies, bags and backpacks are also in the mix.
The company – which also includes Marc Kleiner and Kris Fry, gets its name from the group of 400 New Yorkers who were the pinnacle of society in the late 1800s. The 400 in Denver aims to connect clients – including Reef, Airwalk, Sypder and Helly Hansen – to the specialized communities they want to reach.
The 400 is expected to open at 2445 Larimer St. by the end of March. Call 303-292-2646.
