More than six years ago, Mohd Shahril Talib was selling second-hand sports shoes by the roadside and in night markets for side income. Today, he has two shops selling only vintage sports shoes imported from Thailand, China, US, South Korea and Japan. The 36-year-old, who also collects special edition sports shoes for himself, initially started with small bundles of used shoes from a local bundle shoe supplier.when met at his store recently.
Soon, he started looking for suppliers overseas and found one in Thailand that also have used shoes from China, US and Japan. “Shoes are my specialty, so I know how to gauge the quality and conditions whenever the bundles arrived in Thailand,” he said. While many businesses suffered during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, for Mohd Shahril, his vintage shoes business took off from doing online live sales. “I was doing live sales online several times a day and since all the vintage shoes we sell are clean and in good condition, we have a lot of return customers from all over, not only from Malaysia,” he said. Mohd Shahril opened his first vintage shoes shop, Kenincaliq Bundle, in busy Armenian Street in the middle of the city and despite being a bundle shop, the shoes were displayed neatly in rows on racks. He said he made sure all the bundle shoes he brings in are washed and in good conditions so most of the shoes on display looked barely used. One of the workers doing an online live session promoting the shoes at the Kenincaliq Bundl