I thought I’d run a few checkouts on some of my favorite places to shop… I’ve got Julius Keller helping me out taking some photos and I’ve been talking to managers and owners about what they’re up to. I’m going to start with Hemley’s on Brunswick St. in Fitzroy, Melbourne. The store is owned by Jimmy and Felix – both guys are doing an amazing job presenting a store that is completely different to what you’d usually find. I’ll be doing more checkouts in Melbourne and Sydney over the coming weeks – hoping to get further afield coming into summer… check below the cut for a tonne of photos and to read about what’s happening at Hemley’s!

Jimmy, give us your name, title and retail work history. Tell us a little about your business partner and the roles you each have.
My name is Jimmy part Owner/Operator of Hemley Skateboarding and Hemley Store, I went into business with Felix 2 years after he opened the original Hemley Skateboards in Clifton Hill where I worked from the start, my first day at the old store was my first day back in Oz after living in Japan for a year and a half, I definitely wasn’t on my A game from the night before but I’ve never looked back. It’s been two and half years since we moved to Brunswick St Fitzroy and it’s definitely been a change for the better. I basically do all the day to day stuff and Felix does all the buying when he’s not replacing hottie’s (hot water services) and laying pipes (He also works for himself as a plumber), the partnership works really well. Having a tradie as one of the owners has really been a huge benefit as we saved a lot of cash by personally building every inch of both stores from top to bottom.

Hemleys is a pretty unique store – especially since you guys opened the downstairs section. Give us a rundown of how you would classify the store and who your primary customer is.
When we were planning the store we felt that there was a big gap in the Melbourne market for a specialized skate store with more of a personal feel than the commercial mall stores. If you were to classify the store you would probably put it in the Skatique (skate boutique) category and now that we’ve got the new Hemley store downstairs you could add clothing and sneaker boutique to it. We are definitely going down the same road that the Huf stores in San Francisco have gone. We don’t really have one primary customer as our range is pretty broad, we cater for all sorts of customers, from the young grommets, to the old schoolers, longboarders, fresh heads and last but not least the lovely ladies that are into the clothes and shoes downstairs.

What do you look for in brands and ranges to keep the store in tune with the customers?
We definitely go with our initial instinct when it comes to ranges.  I think being in Melbourne where black is best makes the buying a bit easier. We always make sure to buy a variety of different price pointed products, this winter we have men’s and women’s jackets ranging from $99.95 to $599.95. So no matter you budget we got something for everyone.

What’s the best selling labels in the store at the moment?
The Hemley store downstairs is doing really well with Insight for both guys and girls, its an amazing aussie brand that oozes style. Supra is also killing it with its new take on sneakers. For the ladies Evil Twin and One Teaspoon are also selling well. The skate store upstairs is pumping out a heap of Nike and Vans along with the super styling Matix apparel.

What about items – anything that is disappearing off the racks faster than you can get them in?
Yeah the new Adidas skate range has done amazing, all of our team riders are frothing over them. We just got in a new drop of RVCA and theres a few leather jackets that that will make you feel cooler than Johnny Depp on smack. So Fresh!

The layout of the store has changed a bit recently with the addition of the downstairs store. How has that changed what you’re doing? How do the two stores differ?
It’s totally changed what we are doing, we’ve gone out and got a heap of new brands which has pretty much doubled our work load it’s pretty awesome to have twice as much stock, double the temptation! The stores really complement each other, all of the core skate products are upstairs and all of our mens and womens street wear is downstairs along with a huge sneaker range. Theres over 200 hundred different styles of sneakers between the two stores so there shouldn’t be a problem finding something you like.

What have you got planned for the future – events? Store changes? New labels?
We’ve got a few ideas in the works, first up is our long awaited website hemley.com.au it’ll have all our latest drops, team profiles and lots more. Both stores will be forever changing so they will be always something new every time you drop in.

Hemley Store
259 Brunswick St Fitzroy Vic 3065
Ph: 03 9939 6096
Email: downstairs@hemley.com.au
www.hemley.com.au

Hemley Skateboarding
Upsrairs at 259a Brunswick St Fitzroy Vic 3065
Ph: 03 9419 3121
Email: contact@hemley.com.au
www.hemley.com.au

Both Stores Opening Hours
Mon-Fri 11am-6pm
Sat- 10am-6pm
Sun- 11am-5pm