Matt Choon’s first investment in sneakers was a success.
Around the age of 12, he began trading sneakers for fun. As a teenager, he didn’t have much money, and he recalled the rush of taking $200 in birthday cash to SoHo to buy a used pair of statement sneakers from a stranger on Facebook.
“Teenage Matt definitely was obsessed with the internet and looking cool,” he said.
When he came home with his 2003 Nike SBs, his mom “flipped out” at the price he’d paid, he recalled. But as he bought more sneakers to resell or trade for a profit, “she realized it was me becoming an entrepreneur.”
Choon founded multiple companies: Bowery Showroom a Lower Manhattan retail space, Bowery Agency a marketing company, and Potion CBD, which is a CBD-based brand. Choon was 26 years old when he started these businesses. The showroom and agency are part of Choon’s Lower East Ventures LLC and have pulled in five figures of revenue per month in recent months, according to records provided to MarketWatch. Choon says that the three businesses have consistently been profitable. They gross up to five or six figures each month.
Choon is a New York native who was born in Lower East Side. He attended school at Chinatown for elementary, and Chelsea High School and Middle school. Takeshi Fukui is his roommate and business partner in Bushwick. They met each other when he was in middle school.
After high school, Choon got into CUNY’s prestigious Macaulay Honors College, which allowed him to study tuition-free at Baruch College. There, he switched his focus from finance to entrepreneurialism and started an app as well as competing in various business competitions.
After failing at day trading and losing $3,000 he had to close his Robinhood Account.
Crypto changed his luck. Choon told MarketWatch he sold stocks and put the cash in his bank account into Ethereum — most of what he had at the time. He saw the low five figures he invested soar to more than $100,000 and then fall, he recalled, still landing, at the time, at more than double what he’d invested. Then he went on to make much more.
Potion, his CBD-based brand was started with $1,000 from his college earnings as an economist tutor. He started the brand in autumn 2018 after buying CBD gummies for $1 from a local store. He then rebranded them and resold them at Hester Street Market.
In order to grow the business, he got a job as a digital marketer at a crypto company. He sold CBD gummies at street fairs and parties on weekends. In August 2019, he was earning so much from Potion, he quit his job.
Let’s fast forward to the year 2020, and we are in pandemic times. Choon took a pair vintage Air Jordan 4s to Bushwick for shoe repairs. He recognised the owner of the shop as an East Village-based shoe designer. Choon claimed that after a brief conversation with the owner, he was taken to the rear of the store, where the designer clothing was displayed. He also said there were more clothes in an adjacent warehouse. Choon paid $300 for a garbage bag full of clothes.
“We’re talking about like $500 T-shirts that are crumpled up, smelled like bleach, dirty, disgusting,” Choon recalled. “But to me it was like a treasure.” He bought many more bags from the seller, and washed, ironed and tagged them to get them ready for sale. He shared his actions on TikTok.
He went back to Hester Street with vintage clothing and cannabis. His TikTok videos sparked a huge interest.
“So now I’m this micro influencer overnight,” he said.
He needed to find a storage space for his clothes as he bought more to sell. He found a store on Craigslist, “really cheap because it was still during Covid,” and in serious need of repair.
He spent some of the crypto-earnings to prepare for an upcoming sample sale. At that event, he was able to sell enough items to finance renovations.
Choon has been the CEO of Bowery Showroom since it opened in 2011. In order to attract creatives, brands pay for their clothes to be displayed at the Bowery Showroom. Tattoo artists and direct-to garment printers are also available.
Choon, through his marketing agency provides services from the conception of a concept to its completion. He employs videographers as well social media writers, editors, and other professionals to create content. There’s also a hospitality component.
Choon reflects on his past and realizes that he did not have a business plan before starting. Choon learned from his mistakes.
“My biggest teacher is the experience itself,” he said. “Understanding what my customers wanted, what I wanted, what performed well, trial and error, those are all things that got us to this point. But my professional background, things I was interested in when I was young, provided me the foundation.”
Julia-Barrett-Mitchell contributed to this story.