Hidden Gems: Meet Jenny Ukaj of Red Rose Hype Shop

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenny Ukaj.

Hi Jenny, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story began with thrifting and selling vintage clothing online on apps like Depop and Mercari. I was always into streetwear fashion and sneakers. Since I was a little kid, I was always into the process of business, like selling things at school to my friends and classmates. A dream of mine was to open up a boutique clothing store, but I never knew what I could do that would be unique enough to be successful. I visited my friend in Louisville, Kentucky, and we went to a few sneaker/streetwear resell stores. I immediately fell in love with these stores and kept coming in a couple of times a month to visit. I was so confused as to why there wasn’t really anything like this in Nashville. In frustration, I was complaining, and then it all of a sudden hit me. I found a hole in the market, and I said to myself, WAIT, why don’t I do it?!

I was in college at Belmont for business/entrepreneurship, finishing up my last year. From that moment on, I started my journey. I searched for inventory, I was networking with resellers in Atlanta, and I was learning as much as I could on authenticating clothing and sneakers. I worked really hard for 6 months to get as much inventory as I could because my goal was to open up in January 2019. This was my last semester of college, but my goal was to put my footprint in Nashville as fast as I could, with the vision that I had. I was in class until 12 pm, so I set my hours at first to 1 pm-5 pm. I rushed every day straight to open up the store after class was over, regardless if anyone would show up.

It was really challenging to get my brand out there at first. Nashville was a tough market because sneakers and streetwear were still very new. I had to do a lot of educating my customers when they would come in, but there were a lot of long days when no one would come in. I also dealt with many challenges being a female in a very male-dominated industry. Despite this, I still showed up every day with the mindset of succeeding regardless of the outcome. I was a one-woman show for about 2 years because I didn’t have the funds to afford an employee yet. I was juggling school and all the work in the shop myself.

Within two years, I got an intern from Belmont, who helped me out for free in the meantime for his college credits.

This change helped me have the ability to focus on other things that would help my business grow. Later that year, I was able to afford to pay him and hire another employee. We kept growing and I kept renovating the shop as time went on. I started out in a small room in my father’s office, with about 15 sneakers on the shelf, to take over the entire building. I now have an entire upstairs dedicated to just sneakers alone, with about 350+ sneakers on the shelf!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It was far from a smooth road, there were many adversities that I went through. There are still some that I continue to face to this day. Some of the first challenges I faced were learning to authenticate inventory, making connections to get inventory, and getting people to actually come shop with me. It was very challenging at first to gain people’s trust to believe in my vision. A lot of these challenges came from being a female in a male-dominated industry. A lot of men undermined me or tried to take advantage of me. I was one of the first females in this industry, and plenty of men took this as a way to scam me or give me a difficult time. In one of the first bulk deals I ever did, the guy told me “I scammed you, it’s too late, sorry, but girls just aren’t cut out for resell.” Not to mention, a lot of guys did credit card scamming when I first opened. I did not know that people were capable of doing this. I was definitely naive, and I have taken over $10,000 in losses due to credit card scams. So that being said, this industry forced me to become a stronger woman.

Lastly, the biggest struggle I face is satisfying everyone. For example, people come in to sell but expect a very high number at the market. They don’t understand that in order to provide this service and stay in business I have to have room to make a profit. I always end up paying well so that I can satisfy those customers, but now I have to charge a bit higher in the store to meet our profit margins. This is important because in order to pay our bills, and employees and stay in business we need to make a certain percentage. I always price items as fairly as possible, but another struggle with this is people not understanding the reason for a markup in-store. There is a convenience for the service we provide. People get the item the day of, get to try it on and see the materials in person. This minimizes the risk of ordering the wrong size, not getting the item delivered by a certain time, and or the item not looking as pictured online.

We also deal with a lot of good and bad people and work very hard all day to provide quality customer service regardless of how difficult. We also take on the risk of allowing people to try things on in-store because we want everyone to be satisfied with their purchase. Overall, it is hard to make everyone happy, but I do my best, and there is a reason why I need to pay a little lower or charge a little higher. There is convenience, but also at the end of the day, it’s helping support a local business to stay open for the community.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Red Rose Hype Shop?
Red Rose Hype Shop is the premier destination where streetwear and high-end fashion meet to bring customers the widest and rarest selection of sought-after clothing items and sneakers in Nashville, Tennessee. We aim to provide sanctuary for the Nashville streetwear community by allowing people to actually see and touch their grails before deciding to purchase them. We work really hard to provide a service and space for the streetwear/sneaker community in Nashville.

We buy, sell, and trade streetwear, sneakers, designer, and vintage. We specialize in sourcing, authenticating, and providing the coolest sneakers and streetwear clothing. We are a one-stop shop for all things streetwear! Getting to try the sneakers and clothing on in person is a huge differentiator for us. We also provide one of the largest streetwear clothing selections in the south. Most sneaker stores are heavily focused on shoes, but we are a hype shop, meaning we focus heavily on clothing as well. We have over 1000 pieces of clothing, and 350+ shoes in store.

Another thing that sets us apart is that the store is female-owned. I am most proud of the excellent customer service that we provide our customers. I want the readers to know that we work very hard to provide the best authentic product, at the best prices, and we also pay very well for anyone needing to get rid of any new or gently used sneakers and streetwear clothing.

Any big plans?
Future-wise, I am planning a huge expansion and renovation so that we can carry even more products! We are planning on adding to the building and creating an even cooler place for the Nashville sneaker community. I want to create a space there to bring people with similar interests together.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.redrosehype.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redrosehypeshop/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Red-Rose-Hype-1977779599109447