Did Coronavirus Kill SOSICO?
Did The Novel covid-19 Coronavirus kill SOSICO?
The short answer to that question is, “No, but it did speed things up a bit."
Welcome to 2020, the year of nothing but disappointment and tragedy (thus far). We started off with high hopes, soon to be swept away by the Coronavirus Pandemic, Australian brush fires, Kobe Bryant tragically passing away in a helicopter crash, 20 year old rapper Pop Smoke murdered in LA, the locust swarm in Africa, floods in Indonesia, the stock market & economy crash threatening another great depression, and currently - the radioactive Chernobyl fires inching closer and closer to the main reactor… And to think we’ve only started quarter two of 2020.
If that’s not depressing enough, to take it down another notch we have officially closed the PVD flagship store (permanently).
Unfortunately we don’t have any surprise this time where we announce a new location opening next week. That’s it. If it seems abrupt, that’s because it was.
To elaborate on the decision we made in closing so soon, you can attribute it to the devastation of the Coronavirus. We closed our doors in early March for the safety of our friends, families, customers and the public, but we did not have the intention of closing for good at that point. Our lease was due to expire at the end of May, and we planned on running it up to the very end before eventually moving on. We were planning a proper send off, sales, and a chance for everyone to stop by one last time and kick it in the oldest indoor mall in America. As the Coronavirus pandemic became increasingly more severe (especially in the US), we soon realized that chances of opening back up before June 1st were looking extremely slim, so we made the decision to pack up a little early.
So you were planning on closing the PVD flagship store anyways? Why?
We originally planned to dig in for the long haul, our last thought was to put the time, money and effort into PVD only to close less than one year later. We came to this decision based on a few factors, a lot of which stemmed from the location. Shortly after moving into the space we were notified of the Arcade Mall converting the residential apartments into condos, along with the store fronts on the 1st floor into individually owned units that could be bought out. We were offered to buy our space out, but at the time there was too much grey area, too many unanswered questions, and overall not the smartest financial move for the brand. In addition to that, we wanted to get back to basics - more creative content, more refined product, less “noise”.
After running a storefront for 3 years, you are able to learn and navigate the many challenges that it presents. At times is can be uplifting, at others it can be a burden. At some points I felt that as the storefront was allowing growth in some routes, it was equal or greater at restricting growth in others. With all of the lessons learned, we have chosen to take SOSICO. strictly online for the foreseeable future.
But wait, there’s more…
in addition to the above, we’re also going on hiatus
We have not released any new product this year, and don’t plan to (yet). If we do, we’re looking at Fall / Winter.
In that time we will be tightening up on branding, production, design, and customer experience. We want to have everything caught back up and aligned properly for the re-launch.
The online store will stay open during this time and we will still be shipping orders regularly. We still have a solid inventory from PVD that we want to clear out as soon as possible, so feel free to help us do that! We’re not gone for good, if anything, we hope that we’ll be back even better than before!
Forever & Always
Peace + Happiness
- Zack