Central Hype’s neon logo, stylish lettering and tinted windows can’t help but stand out among the usual strip mall suspects like Five Guys, Starbucks and Chipotle on their Naperville block. Inside, a few shoppers wander around checking out vintage Supreme sweatshirts while Post Malone’s “Psycho” calmly echoes off the walls lined with Yeezys and Jordans. Central Hype is Naperville’s new hypebeast store.
For those unfamiliar, hypebeast refers to “high-end culture for fashion, basically,” said founder Kevin Arora. “(It’s) for the younger kids to start off before they get into like high-end streetwear like Louis Vuitton or Gucci, Prada.”
Central Hype buys, sells and consigns rare and unique hypebeast shoes, clothes and accessories. “What we have in the store is very, very rare,” said Arora. “It’s like a museum almost.” Hypebeast culture also brings in a lot of elements from the modern hip-hop scene. A lot of famous hypebeasts actually are rappers as well as other artists who wear those brands, but it can be anyone “that has a big influence to our generation,” said manager Syed Ahmed.
The ability to tap into what those younger crowds want to buy
is a big part of what makes Central Hype unique; and the reason they’re confident is that, unlike a lot of stores, they’re the same age as most of their clientele. Arora, the owner and founder, is only 19 years old, while Ahmed and fellow manager Haneef Vakas are just 24.
Even before working at Central Hype, Ahmed and Vakas made money buying and reselling shoes online and witnessed the growth of the market among people their age in the last few years. “The way the culture is going, you go to high school now and you see kids with Yeezys and Bape. It became a norm and it’s growing so much, especially with the youth,” said Ahmed. “The youth has everything now,” added Vakas.
North Central student and shoe enthusiast Andrew Burton agrees that there is a place for this brand of business in the area. “I think it’s in demand,” said Burton. “Naperville kids are going to flock to a store like this.”
Central Hype is also able to market directly to those demographics by utilizing social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube to show off their product. Arora stressed the importance of capturing their specific aesthetic, hiring out editors to create specific styles akin to hypebeast videos. “I’m like the director of each video and I’m behind it,” said Arora. “ I’m very particular about the effects and the songs.” Their first video on YouTube, “SPENDING OVER $200,000 AT SNEAKERCON NEW YORK!!” already has over 13,000 views.
They’ve also been able to reach out to other hypebeast personalities like Blazendary, a 17-year-old YouTuber with over one million subscribers, who paid a visit to Central Hype in a Lamborghini for their grand opening in January. People came from as far as Michigan and Wisconsin and lined around the building to meet the YouTuber and get a chance to snag some of the store’s rare pieces. Blazendary featured the store in a video on his own channel that has racked up over 600,000 views. Aside from YouTubers, Central Hype has also brought in Chicago rapper Cdot Honcho for a video since the store opened.
Despite his age and the short tenure Central Hype has been open, Arora feels he’s earned legitimacy as a business owner and has already begun to bring new shoppers to other stores in the strip as well. “People are starting to take me seriously,” he said. “even though I’m really young, they know what I’m talking about, they know what I’m doing,”
While they’re just starting out, the company does have plans to extend their business online to a whole new host of customers around the world in the near future. For now, Central Hype is one of the only places to go for the young with a fine taste in vintage streetwear and fashion. But even if you don’t have a few hundred bucks to shell out for a rare Supreme hoodie or Jordans, that doesn’t mean you have to leave Central Hype empty-handed. “We cater to every single person, even someone coming to spend $10,” said Arora. “They can feel they got something apart of the store and feel like they’re in the culture.”
