New shoe store set to open in Yellowknife

“I’m a fashion guy,” said Aron Abadi from behind his new counter. “We have had a lot of customers asking for this.”

Abadi is back in the shoe business. Previously the owner of a store in Yellowknife’s Centre Square Mall, he is opening YK Kix and Apparel on the lower level of the YK Centre Mall – below Ragged Ass Barbers.

“I tried this before and it was going good,” said Abadi of his last attempt at selling shoes in Yellowknife.

That store closed, he said, because he and his wife needed to prioritize their two young children over the business at the time.

Now, Abadi is back and excited to offer what he sees as a range of footwear – and caps – Yellowknifers would struggle to buy elsewhere locally.

“We have really nice kicks in here – Nike, Puma, Adidas – and then hats,” said Abadi, who is better known as a Ragged Ass barber and will keep that job while his wife runs the new store. The two eventually hope to hire staff.

While working as a barber, Abadi said, he has fielded a string of requests from people looking for footwear.

“People can’t fly right now to go and find different shoes,” he said, referring to the travel restrictions currently in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Here, they can see what they want and we can order it. We have a lot of different shoes.”

Abadi selects shoes with the help of his cousin, who operates a similar store in Los Angeles.

Asked whether he believes consumer confidence has returned and the business can thrive after the pandemic’s initial impact on the North, he said: “We’ll try. We’ll try our best.”

YK Kix and Apparel is expected to open for the first time this coming Saturday morning, August 22.