80 Sneakerheads Sleeping Outside NYC Footlocker For $220 Nike Foamposite Galaxy

About 80 sneakerheads have been sleeping on the sidewalk outside the West 33rd Street Foot Locker since Saturday, The New York Daily News reports, waiting to buy a limited edition, $220 pair of Nikes, which won't be on sale until Friday. That's right, they'll be 'occupying' the sidewalk for almost a whole week -- for shoes.

And what's the coveted shoe? Meet the Nike Air Foamposite One Galaxy. In anticipation of the NBA All-Star game near in Orlando, near NASA headquarters, Nike is set to release the space-themed kicks featuring "a star cluster overlay and glow-in-the-dark outsole which coordinates with the other megacosm releases from the All-Star lineup."

"We tried to put up tents but the police shut us down," City Tech College student Andrew Poveda, who is skipping school, told The Daily News. "I'm missing out on tests. If I get my size I'm keeping them. If I don't, I'm going to sell them."

(No word yet if Knicks star Amar'e Stoudemire will reprise his role as Foot Locker employee for the big Friday release.)

Of course, this kind of footwear fanaticism is nothing new to New Yorkers:

Comments

[Peter Klomp]

03:51 PM on 02/24/2012

For those that dont know, most sneakerheads are involved in a tight knit community. they could be doing a lot worse things, but they chose to love sneakers, I have been buying sneakers for 25 years and its a passion of many people, not just black kids. Im a white middle class 35 yr old. I dont do drugs, im not on food stamps and i dont own a weapon. Those mock what they dont understand.

[CelebP]

08:44 AM on 02/23/2012

I want a pair!

[euromarkusx]

05:42 AM on 02/23/2012

I remember seeing a documentary of an Asian worker who was told the price of the shoe she was making.

She cried, because that pair of shoes cost what she made in a month,

[bmwracer]

09:34 AM on 02/22/2012

These 80 also were also camped out for their iPhone 4S's.

[NYCKitty]

09:12 AM on 02/22/2012

Let me guess...the majority camping out work part time or have a minimum wage job, they live in public housing, attend public schools and/or are on some form of welfare and cry poverty every chance they get.

Champagne taste w/beer pockets.

[celticfireusa]

08:00 AM on 02/22/2012

Maybe these are % 1 or OWS purchaseing these sneakers ?

[silive]

06:56 AM on 02/22/2012

Great so now i get to see those ugly purple sneakers on people paying with food stamps at the supermarket.

[NYCKitty]

09:12 AM on 02/22/2012

Don't you love it? I know I do!

[kingjohn1956]

03:09 AM on 02/22/2012

I would really like to know how much the material cost for one pair of 200$ sneakers.I could feed my family a few weeks with 220$

[King7David]

06:15 AM on 02/22/2012

No joke. I remember when the most expensive sneaker out was, Puma's at a whopping $24.99.

Now, these kids spend $200.00 dollars on sneakers, that you can't even wear to a job interview. Go figure.

[kingjohn1956]

02:56 PM on 02/22/2012

They had better have a job already. I was so happy when i got my first pair of Chuck Taylor" for ten dollars.

[s heroi]

12:51 PM on 02/25/2012

I'm sure you also remember when going to the movies cost a nickel! You have noticed that the price of everything has skyrocketed since the days when the most expensive sneakers were only $24.99, right?

But aside from that, what difference does it make to you if a few people want to pay $220 for a collectors item? Would it surprise you to know that more than a few of those people will probably flip those same pairs of shoes for $500 to folks with far more disposable income (possibly living in other countries with less access to the shoe) than they have? In a nation predicated on buying things you can't afford (like, say, houses), someone spending $200 on something, which really isn't a lot of money to be honest, is hardly the greatest financial sin a person could commit.

(Btw, who buys everyday clothes based on whether or not if could pass muster at a job interview?)

[GirlInNYC]

09:43 PM on 02/21/2012

What is it with sneakers and pit bulls?! That money could buy stock in something that increases in value.

[King7David]

06:16 AM on 02/22/2012

Like a bank account for themselves, or their children.

[Tleezy1330]

12:12 PM on 02/24/2012

You know a pair sold on eBay for $70,000 right? Others going for much lower, $2,000. How's that for a increase in value?

[Launchpad]

04:54 PM on 02/21/2012

Poor Chinese Kid is paid $4.00 a day to make hundreds of those.

[King7David]

06:17 AM on 02/22/2012

Imagine that. So Nike's profit margin is how much?

[NYCKitty]

09:13 AM on 02/22/2012

I'm betting on 40 CENTS A day, not $4.00.

But I agree w/what you say. These idiots will stand on line for hours just to get a crappy pair of ugly sneakers made in China by some sweatshop kids. It's disgusting.

[Boston67]

12:10 AM on 02/23/2012

You people a problem, signing on to make fun of people and what they do. It's really nice your intolerant to a thing like this, really paints a good image overall.

[Edward Taylor]

03:40 PM on 02/21/2012

make that 80 idiots