By Michael Mistroff
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Despite the current health crisis forcing many small businesses to go belly up across America, the sneaker industry has managed to withstand the Coronavirus pandemic thanks to online retailers, resellers, and the rising popularity of the sneaker culture itself.
In Baltimore, 9/10 Condition is a local sneaker boutique owned by an optimistic entrepreneur undaunted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which emptied schools and colleges, shuttered retail businesses and forced customers to stay home in its early days. After several weeks passed, and reality set in that the virus wasn’t going away anytime soon, owner Roberto Fontanez said he knew it was time to launch a website.
“While we were closed, we took the entire inventory and put it on the website,” Fontanez said. “It wasn’t like if we were open of course, but we were able to keep the lights on.”
After launching the website, Fontanez then began using 9/10 Condition’s official Instagram account, @9_10condition_md — which boasts more than 25,000 followers — to attract customers to the site with its bold simplistic design of a city skyline embedded into the side of a sneaker silhouette. The store name is at the ankle. The shop uses the social media platform to advertise its inventory, offering its followers the chance to buy online and pick up in-store, or to have the sneaker shipped directly to them.
Victor Oyewole, a local photographer and sneaker reseller, said he admires Fontanez’s creativity and fortitude.
“I think it may have been a struggle during the beginning,” Ovewole said about COVID-19’s initial impact on Fontanez’s business, “but he got creative with his business and started selling online. Then if you think about the amount of money people were getting with unemployment checks and the stimulus, I feel like it’s one of the places they went to spend their money.”
Fontanez said 9/10 Condition continued making sales early this year but a new challenge brought by the pandemic was acquiring the store’s inventory, most of which comes from the public. Again, Fontanez said he had to get creative.
“Stuff was selling but nothing was coming in,” Fontanez said. “We started getting a little low on our inventory, so I had to outsource different things, reach out to friends to see what they were selling, and look online to buy things just to help out.”
Fontanez, a Chicago native who moved to Baltimore in 2011, said he originally cut his teeth working sneaker retail for Finish Line before opening up his own store in 2016. For Fontanez, opening 9/10 Condition was about creating a local destination for sneaker enthusiasts as well as having something to leave behind for his three children.
“The reason why I opened up the shop was because I love the culture,” Fontanez said. “But I wanted to have something for myself, something I can leave for my kids.”
Fontanez stressed that he enjoyed working at Finish Line but said he didn’t find the authenticity and passion for sneakers at the corporate level that matched his own.
“They didn’t understand the culture,” Fontanez said. “For a person that actually loves the culture, I think of doing things a certain way. It just wasn’t there anymore so I said ‘okay, well I just have to do it for myself now.'”
Local sneakerhead Ashley Button said the impact that 9/10 Condition has had on the Baltimore sneaker community, as well as the culture that Fontanez has fostered, are reasons why the business has managed to persevere.
“9/10 Condition is more than just a shop, it’s a landmark in Baltimore for the sneaker community,” Button said. “Berto [Fontanez] creates a community that people are drawn to. You could be a casual or a heavy collector and you get the same respect and same value in a conversation. As a woman, you don’t always find that sort of respect walking into a local shop.”
The sneaker boutique first opened in Towson then moved to Pig town, also known as Washington Village, before settling in its current location in Federal Hill. Fontanez has expanded twice.
In addition to 9/10 Condition, Fontanez has launched Beaters 2 Grails, a spin-off to 9/10 Condition that serves as a sneaker laundry, focusing on cleaning and restoring worn sneakers, as well as selling new and used sneakers for $99.
Fontanez also has found several ways to give back to the local community by offering free back-to-school supplies and free pairs of shoes for students with straight As.
“Every once in a while, we’ll give them a free pair of shoes,” Fontanez said. “Some with straight A’s, we’ll have a shoe in a certain size and we’ll say, ‘show me your straight A report card’ and we’ll get you a free pair of shoes.”
For the holidays, 9/10 Condition also offers a 20% discount on purchases with the donation of a toy.
“For Christmas, we do a toy drive as well,” Fontanez said. “Every year we’ve done a toy drive and we donate to the children’s hospital here in Baltimore. This last year we had about 150 toys. As long as it’s brand new, we’ll take it.”
Long time sneakerhead, Cameron Wecker a.k.a. “Mr. Shoe,” said Fontanez’s ability to create innovative promotions helps to keep the shop from feeling stale.
Fontanez “is extremely creative when it comes to promotions or keeping the shop feeling fresh and new,” Wecker said. “Even if it means just moving some stuff around to give it new life.”
But it’s 9/10 Condition’s ability to appeal to both “OG” sneakerheads and those who are new to sneaker culture that Wecker attributed to the store’s increase in popularity.
“Fontanez and 9/10 Condition represent the perfect combination of how both older and newer sneaker enthusiasts can exist in the same space,” Wecker said. “He and his shop cater to both hype and the true collector.”
In addition, Wecker praised 9/10 Condition’s level of customer service, as well as the shop’s atmosphere.
“It’s the sense of community and family that is really the draw,” Wecker said. “[Fontanez] takes an interest in his customers and listens to their wants and desires.”
Wecker explained how important 9/10 Condition has become and how much it means to those in the Baltimore sneaker community.
“9/10 Condition has quickly become a household name for us in the Baltimore area and it’s a place we can be proud to call our own,” Wecker said. “We finally have a sneaker store, that is privately owned, that we cherish and we hope it lasts for a very, very long time.”