Our Story (What ABco was)

ABco currently has retail stores in Alberta and British Columbia, including a flagship store on the second floor of West Edmonton Mall, one of the largest malls in the world. Plans are underway to open additional Canadian retail locations and expand to the US. However, when Nate Reinhart founded the business in 2018, there was not much that indicated the rapid growth it would see…

In March 2018, Nate’s hockey career was cut short by a series of injuries. Having to start over and completely reinvent himself, he observed the up-and-coming sneaker and streetwear resale market. Unfortunately, he didn’t know anything about streetwear or running a store. He was always more of a hockey boy than a hype beast. However, he noticed the lack of a local spot for sneakerheads and streetwear collectors to shop for rare fashion items.

The original idea for The Authentics Club was to make it a subscription service. Members would pay a monthly fee to buy verified, authentic streetwear products at great prices. However, it was a complete failure, and only one subscriber joined the club… So he changed the concept and went looking for a physical retail location.

 
 

After securing a cheap, pop-up spot for a resale store, Nate had to stock the shelves and racks. He managed to secure 6 pairs of shoes, 4 Supreme tees, and 125 bucks worth of vintage apparel. With one rack of mostly vintage streetwear, the store was ready to open its doors.

On May 4th, 2018, we held the grand opening of The Authentics Club pop-up store in St. Albert… Another complete disaster. 5 people showed up and nothing was sold. Realizing that the store needed more inventory, but lacking the budget to purchase it, Nate began accepting consignment on everything.

By October 2018, the consignment model was really taking off in store. People all over Alberta turned to The Authentics Club to buy and sell sneakers and streetwear collectibles. We offered a quick and safe way to trade rare items providing the confidence that all products are 100% authentic.

As the store grew, we built connections and trust within the local streetwear community. By this time, we were gaining 170 followers a week on Instagram, something Nate never in his wildest dreams had imagined would go that well. All the profit was reinvested back into the business. This financed Nate to travel to Sneaker Con in Toronto and fly to LA to attend “Week 0” of the Supreme releases. Going there for the first time was intimidating, so he only managed to buy a single hoodie. However, the experience helped establish some of the key relationships ABco relies on today.

The good times suddenly ended on November 1, when our St. Albert store was broken into. We lost $14k worth of goods and had to close down the store to move to a more permanent and established location. That became the beginning of an extremely challenging period, struggling with insurance, finding a new location and starting over.

In July 2019, we managed to open our second physical location in North East Edmonton on Fort Road. This time the turnout was mind-blowing! In fact, sales went so well that we had to niche down and focus exclusively on shoes and clothing. So over the following 6 months, we phased out our vintage resale operation.

However, Nate was living in a room above the store to be able to put in the work it required. And then… As the new store was getting off the ground… COVID happened… making it increasingly difficult to run a physical retail business… For two years, he lived above a store that was shut down for long periods due to the pandemic.

We qualified for a COVID relief business loan because the store had been open before the lockdown. With that money, we were able to reopen in June 2021. Not long after, we were offered a short-term lease just off Jasper Ave. This location was about 3 times the size of the previous store. To stock this larger retail space, Nate teamed up with his two largest consigners, Jason Chan and Zero Xu.

By July 2021, The Authentics Club on Fort Road was closed, and the new store was rebranded as Authentics Boutique. The revamped business combined the new partners’ 18 years of resale experience with Nate’s connections, established infrastructure and brand. The first month started slow, but we quickly reemerged as a force on the Edmonton streetwear scene.

The Jasper Ave. location was so successful that we got the opportunity to move into our, now permanent location in West Edmonton Mall. This was when we knew we had finally made it big. Our store was now located next to Louis Vuitton and Rolex. We teamed up with our final partner and investor, Moe, and got the new store ready to open. We also did the final rebrand by abbreviating Authentics Boutique Company to simply ABco.

During those 3 weeks, Nate, Zero and Jason worked 20-hour days, 7 days a week, to get the store up and running. Much of that time was spent in a U-Haul transporting shoes between our warehouse, other locations and the new store. They would often sleep in the back room of the mall to be able to get everything done on the 3-week deadline before Black Friday.

On the day of the grand opening, the 3 partners worked all night to complete the final preparations. Before opening hours, people lined up in front of the glass windows waiting to get in. That day, Nate along with Jason and Zero worked a 12-hour shift after just one hour of sleep. However, the hard work was all worth it, as this exclusive location allowed ABco to grow into the enterprise it is today.

In October of 2022, ABco officially became a retail chain with our store opening in Kelowna, British Columbia. With the goal set to expand across North America and grow to a 9-figure business, our story has only just begun…

Last edited: November 2022