If you’re going to drop the cash to buy one of those trendy loft-style condos in one of the District’s redeveloped neighborhoods, Kevin Powers wants you to have the right shoes for your closet.
“If you’re the guy who’s buying a crazy loft with floor-to-ceiling windows, are you going to roll out and go to Kinney Shoes?” said the 37-year-old owner of Carbon, an independent shoe store that stocks hard-to-find brands from New York, Paris and other fashion capitals.
Powers, who grew up in Reston, opened his first shoe store on U Street in 2004 just as the neighborhood was becoming a mecca for the District’s hipster crowd. As high-end condos were popping up, Powers seized the opportunity to add retail to the mix in a neighborhood that was suddenly crying out for it.
“[Developers] were selling these $550,000 lofts, but then you’d have to go down to Tommy’s liquors with bullet-proof glass. It’s like selling cars without gas stations,” he said. “They were marketing this whole New York lifestyle, but there was no New York retail.”
Powers gave Carbon, which retails its shoes for between $90 and about $350, that New York City feel by modeling the store after a lounge instead of a shoe store. Sleek couches, modern music and shoe displays with neon lighting turn the store from a place to stock up on work shoes to a hangout, Powers said.
“I wanted to create a cool space so even it you don’t buy anything, you’d want to hang out here,” he said. “It’s more of a buying experience, instead of just filling a need for shoes.”
The concept has been a success. Powers customers include fashion-forward Washingtonians from across the career spectrum.
“D.C. gets a bad rap as a conservative city, but until you give them options, you don’t know what they’re going to do,” he said.
Powers opened his second location in Woodley Park in September and has already started looking into expanding his product line beyond shoes.
“I’ll grow the business as long as it fits in with the mission of being unique,” he said. “As long as it doesn’t ruin the vibe.”
