I am still recovering from the madness that is a midnight release, but I wanted to get up some pics for all those that came out. To be honest, everyone was expecting the release to be big, but the amount of people who showed up for the event really showed how much we all love us some Jordan 11s. Available now on eBay.
Heading out into the cold Cali night, I wondered what the turn out would look like. We don’t really get a lot of midnight releases, so it is hit and miss with the type of crowd you get. However, as I pulled in to the Westfield Culver City Mall (Fox Hills) at about 11:15 pm, it was clear that this was not going to be just an ordinary release. To be honest I was a little nervous. This was only the second midnight release held by Footaction, and from what I could see, there was already about 200 people in line. So right away, my heart starts to beat and I am thinking “WILL THEY HAVE ENOUGH?”
As I park the car and step out into the area where they were holding the line, I was greeted by the buzz and anticipation in the air. All around you could hear conversations about the “Cool Greys”. For some, this would be their first pair of Air Jordan 11s, for others, it was a one to stock, one to rock situation. As I walked up and down the line, everyone started to get curious about who I was and who I was shooting for. Once I let them know it was KOF, the tension eased up a little bit. Who knew sneakerheads were so touchy about who was taking pictures of their kicks?
After some giveaways, bit of administrative organizing of the chaotic line, and the clock ticking midnight, the folks at Footaction were finally ready to start letting folks in the door. Well almost. There was an issue at the register. I could see the panic start to set in on the faces of the employees. There were 200-300 sneakerheads outside waiting to get their kicks as the clock struck midnight. However, after a quick phone call by the manager, the registers were up and ready to go at 12:03 am
To keep things organized, Mall security escorted groups of 10 into the mall from the waiting area. As they hit the stores, a full staff was at the ready. As soon as you gave them your size, they took off running to bring back your prize. This process repeated over and over until (almost) everyone was taken care of. They did in fact run out, but not after taking care of over 3/4 of the line.
Overall, the night went really well. Culver City Police department was on deck as well as mall security. Outside of a few tense moments with folks trying to cut, the rest of the night was awesome. I got to link with some dope sneakerheads that I may have never met had I not come through.
As always, the folks at Footaction were on point and helped serve a very hungry sneaker community.
