Sole Movement in Macau and HK!

03 January, 2010 06:07am | Posted in Air Force 1, Air Jordan, Air Max 1, Dunk, Dunk Hi, Kobe Bryant; Nike, Kobe IV, Kobe; Lebron, LeBron James, Nike, Nike Basketball, Quickstrike | 7 Comments »

Alright. I’m sure everyone’s curious as to what went down when I took my trip to Macau/HK. We really went to Macau with the fam with my sister and I just taking a short half-day trip to HK to get some things done. I was a bit disappointed really… well, that and I didn’t have time to really go around and do the stuff I wanted to.

Macau was a major disappointment. As the place is really more of a touristy place, there weren’t any major sneaker stores aside from the usual Marathon Sports and other similar sneaker stores. I went through stores only once and just saw the usual releases. There might’ve been some special releases but I guess my fault was that I was too focused on copping AMs more than anything. Jordans, AF1s and other Basketball releases were bountiful. NB limited editions were also available, but that’s pretty much it. I was in Macau a couple of years back and there was one serious sneaker store that carried some crazy ish like the Fantastic Four Pack. I tried looking for it but it wasn’t there anymore.

There was a Nike store over at the Venetian (and damn is that place huge!) and once again, it didn’t really bring any surprises. There might’ve been some surprises here and there, but nothing to write home about. Well, there were a couple of things I did see. They had the Air Max Light from the Tecmo Bo Pack. I don’t recall these being released here so I had to take this stolen shot. They were ok, but not enough for me to bring ‘em home. The Max Light uses the KC Royals color blocking with pixels by the blue toe box and a pixelized Bo Jackson playing baseball (which can be found on the old Nintendo game Tecmo Baseball).

Another surprise here were the AM 180 Ultramarines (that also didn’t drop here btw) and the AM1 OGs. Yes, the AM1 OGs came out here but it seemed like they were GRs there! I even saw the OGs over at New Yaohan, the mall across our hotel! What’s great about the Nike store there was that they did have a pretty good selection considering that it’s inside the department store. And for some reason, the stuff they had were on sale! I decided to get the Blue AM1 OG (which hasn’t been re-stocked yet unlike the Red 1s) at 3o% off retail price! They came out to about 520 HKD (which is about 3250, a good 2k less than they sell ‘em over at Hideout!).

I did take the trip to HKG a day before heading back here. It sucked that they also dropped the Space Jams on the 23rd at the Nike Store. Here are some kicks that I saw at the Nike Hong Kong store. Lebron 7 Red Carpets, Kobe Beijing to Finals, Yi Jianlian Skyposites. As you can see with the photo above and below, a lot of QS that never made our shores. Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a fan of the AF1s but there were a lot for you guys to see. There were a couple of Jordan 1s that also didn’t make it here. Seeing all these J1s, now I realize that they did release a whole ton of Jordan 1s last year. From Phat Lows, Hi Straps, Premiers and Quickstrikes, we were abundant in Js last year.

Ocean Terminal Stores were a bit of a disappointment. I breezed by the NSW store, Adidas Originals and Performance stores, Onitsuka Tiger and the rest…and nothing….. or not within my budget. Another surprise occurrence here were the abundance of Brain Wrecks and other SBs. Though they didn’t have the Guccis. I purposedly didn’t pass by Visvim and the other stores nearby as I know I’d only be salivating over the kicks on hand. D-Mop was ok but once again, nothing to write home about. Streetwear stuff was pretty cool and the sale was just too tempting. But time wasn’t on our side and I didn’t get to go back to check them out.

After lunch and Ocean Terminal we scooted on down to Fa Yuen street, the fabled Sneaker Street over at Mongkok. The place was crazy! Even the streets leading to it was already filled with kicks. But sadly, my AM90 Infrared journey was all for naught. No one had, and if they did, they didn’t have my size. Fa Yuen, like this whole sneaker trip, was a bit of a disappointment. But I guess it was a mistake I had a goal in mind. The stores offered pretty much the same thing and nothing really stood out.

I did however drop by the Nike Basketball over at Fa Yuen. The store was really nice and found my surprise pick up there. I’ve been pretty down on my luck up until then. Among all the basketball releases so far for this season, I’ve been riding only on a couple– CP3 IIIs, Kobe Vs, Skyposites (still not there), and the Cradle Lows. It was just unfortunate HK didn’t have the Philippines Asia Pack version, but I was lucky enough to pick up the Chinatown edition (photos to follow real soon!). The colors are pretty funky and I just had to get ‘em! Though I am selling them. So if there are any takers, do drop me a line (10.5 US)  let me know if you’re interested. I’ll PM the details but I’ll post them soon enough.

So there, that was my trip. I know it could’ve been better if I had more time. I also know that if I had a little more time, I would’ve been able to appreciate other releases. I guess the Net is also a curse as it makes you think that you’ve seen some of the sneakers before, especially for some pairs you’ve seen over and over again on all the sneaker sites like mine. So to a certain extent, especially for the Nike releases, it felt like there was nothing really amazing. But I’m definitely sure there was heat behind some pairs there. So ’til the next time, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the other stuff and not just the elusive Infrareds (word has it that the AM90 Infrareds are gonna come out later this year. so yay me!).

Tags: AF1, d-mop, hong kong, lebron, macau, max light, new yaohan, Nike, ocean terminal. kobe, qs