How First Class Sneaks Became the Go-To Sneaker Spot in Atlanta

In life, anything great comes with its fair share of obstacles and trials along the way. While those setbacks can be frustrating, as the saying goes: "a setback is a setup for a comeback." If you haven't met them already, allow us to introduce you to First Class Sneaks, a black female-owned sneaker store that's based in Atlanta led by Kierra Wagstaff and Ronneta Wagstaff. A full-fledged family business comprised of life-long sneaker enthusiasts, what started out as a casual passion project during the pandemic a couple of years ago has since exploded into a hugely popular high-end retailer with a speciality for selling exclusive footwear and other items that are hard-to-find or currently unavailable. First Class Sneaks is a company passionately rooted within their family, and certified with authenticators, buyers, marketers, and graphic designers.

Operating on a "buy, sell, trade," policy like most retailers on the secondary market, prime customer service is at the forefront of First Class Sneaks, where you're greeted with warm southern hospitality every step of the way through your buying process. While experiencing some major highs as young retailer in the game, First Class Sneaks has also had to deal with a few difficult stumbling blocks along the way—stumbling blocks that has only served to make them stronger. We caught up with co-founder Kierra Wagstaff recently to learn more about the story that is First Class Sneaks.

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Boosting a bright smile and cheery personality, Wagstaff is a joy to meet virtually, which gives you a glimpse of what it's like to connect with her and the Wagstaff family personally. We kick the conversation off by rewinding back to the beginning. "Our family—my brother, sister, father, and myself, have always had a passion for sneakers," she tells ONE37pm, adding: "We've always had the passion, but we were also each doing our own things. It wasn't until the pandemic where we started to have those conversations surrounding sneakers."

Wagstaff's father came up with the idea of entering the resell market with used sneakers, but with sneaker buying being at an all-time high in 2020, there was a general trust issue with authentication during that time. "Nobody could really trust if they were getting authentic sneakers or not, so we started buying new shoes," she explains. The family went forward with the strategy of selling brand new sneakers online, and before long business started booming—a shock for Wagstaff and her sister who had only planned on being a part of the company until the pandemic was over.

"That has not been the case. We've all been in the process of building our family sneaker legacy together," Wagstaff adds. The concept of family is rooted within every single element of First Class Sneaks, including its name, which came from Wagstaff's 12-year-old daughter. "The name came from my daughter. She has focal epilepsy, and November is National Epilepsy Awareness Month. Originally we wanted to do something with the business that brought awareness to epilepsy monthly, but my dad pointed out that epilepsy is something my daughter deals with everyday. Our colors are purple, blue, white, and grey, with the purple standing for National Epilepsy Awareness Month. As for the name First Class Sneaks—she came up with it all by herself!"

Wagstaff and her family spent the bulk of 2020 expanding their rapidly-growing online business, and when the doors to the world opened back up, the Wagstaff family made the decision to open a brick and mortar location in Maryland—their home state. It was here where one of their first major obstacles would occur. "We opened the Maryland brick and mortar in 2021, and it was going really good until last year, when the store caught on fire," Wagstaff says before continuing: "That store closed down, however, we decided to open up another location last October in Atlanta."

Two months later, another challenge hit the family. "In December of last year, only two months after we opened, our Atlanta store flooded. However we were able to save a lot of our stuff with ATL, whereas in Maryland way too much of our stuff was damaged, so we had to close." Wagstaff explains the two unfortunate events happening pretty much back to back calmly, but anybody who has run a business (in particular one involving selling a product/products) knows just how devastating it can be to lose one location fully, and almost lose another due to unfortunate circumstances.

Your building get destroyed, your inventory gets destroyed as well, and you're almost certainly walking out with a loss of some sort in certain areas. "I would say that is two of the many obstacles we have faced," Wagstaff says, half-laughing. She continues: "Another obstacle was opening an Atlanta location, because we are not from Atlanta—ATL is its own hub. So we had to make the different connections and tap into our individual resources to make sure we got our names out there in an area that is full of sneaker stores and sellers. There has been so many things we've had to encounter with opening physical locations."

As we said earlier, a setback is only a setup for a comeback, and the comeback for First Class Sneaks has been sensational. With everything fully back in motion with their Atlanta location, the focus is now on the day-to-day process of making sure everything is running smoothly. That first starts with getting inventory. "We travel," she tells me before detailing how the family sources their sneakers. "My sister manages the store, I do all of the online/back office stuff, my mom handles the financial elements, and my dad and brother go out and buy. They go to SneakerCons in different areas like Cleveland and Hawaii, and that's where we get the bulk of our shipments from. Not to mention, they are able to make a lot of connections when they attend these events, so people will hit us up first if they've got a new shoe and we'll buy it."

The family also has a sneaker authenticator based in NYC named Brandon, who inspects all of the shoes before they make their way online and onto shelves. "Brandon comes down to Atlanta—because he's also teaching another member on our team how to authenticate sneakers. All of our shoes are professionally authenticated, and Brandon has worked for eBay for about three or four years—he does this on a regular basis."

When speaking about the rise of First Class Sneaks, this doesn't sound like a company that was only started three years ago. In fact, it typically takes years for businesses to get to where First Class is right now, so when did the Wagstaff family know they had a hit on their hands? "I would say with the first sale... our sneakers are not cheap," she tells us. "If you are a lover of sneakers, then you already know that they are not the original price as what's marketed. By the time they get to us resellers, we double the price. We have some products on our site that are around a thousand dollars, and I was the person saying I didn't think people were going to buy these sneakers—especially in a pandemic! People's survival skills were kicking in to save and invest money... I just didn't see people spending frivolously, but I was wrong!"

Noting that First Class Sneaks was filling a void that Wagstaff thought had "already been filled," the entrepreneur also believes that being personable on social media has helped with the growth of the company. "We've always been really intentional about showing our faces on social media. A different element for First Class Sneaks is people feeling like they can relate to us. We're family-owned, we pride ourselves in getting products out to you fast. You can call, text, and email us—we are super approachable, so we build relationships with our clientele immediately."

That familial friendliness and hospitality is part of what makes the in-person shopping experience with First Class Sneaks such a fun one. It's also been what's attracted some big name customers to the building to cop the latest and greatest in shoes. "One of our biggest supporters has been Zaytoven," adds Wagstaff. "He was the very first meet and greet we had with our grand opening. When you bring these people on for events like that, you don't know if the relationship is going to last, but Zaytoven and his family come and shop often. To know that he has worked with the greatest of the greats and is a supporter is amazing! The Atlanta community has definitely showed out for us."

Yeezys, Wagstaff tells me, remains one of First Class Sneaks' biggest sellers along with Jordan 1s. "People love Yeezys, and I think it has less to do with Kanye, and more to do with overall comfort and style. Yeezy slides in particular are in-demand. Outside of that—definitely Jordan 1s. We just had Christopher Spencer come in looking for a specific Jordan 1 colorway, and it's not a surprise because it's a classic shoe that's also very comfortable. Jordan 1s are always high in-demand when it comes to us."

The First Class Sneaks guest list has certainly been grand thus far, but there's two people in particular that Wagstaff would love to see stop by that haven't been in the building yet: "Quavo and Lil Baby," she says promptly. "Everybody knows Lil Baby's sneaker collection is mega—those are two people on my bucket list to get to the store."

On the immediate list of goals for 2024 is expansion, Wagstaff tells me a plan that is already being put into motion right now: "I would love to highlight that at the beginning of the month we got to spotlight First Class Sneaks at Afrotech in Austin, Texas. That was major for us. We hosted the Just Landed Sneaker Mixer on opening night, and there were hundreds of people in the building. We had Zaytoven there supporting us—people from Netflix, Reddit, Hulu, YouTube, MSN—it was a very good networking experience, and we've never done anything of that magnitude. It was amazing to see all of these heads of tech companies in one space. Sneakers is like a card game, it is that one thing that will absolutely bring people together, and that's exactly what it did for the tech world."

Another element of First Class Sneaks to look forward to in 2024 is their Laced series, which highlights emerging artists in the store every Saturday. "Laced stems from my love of artists," explain Wagstaff. "We record it every Saturday between 12pm and 2pm. Atlanta is super heavy on the music scene, and I was a radio host for five years. I've always wanted to use whatever platform I've been blessed with to open the doors for independent artists who are super amazing, but just don't have the money or opportunities to get recognition. Laced is a community initiative of mine through First Class Sneaks where we invite independent artists to do their thing on Saturdays. We post their videos onto our social platforms and collaborate with them. It's fun, but it's also holding up my end of the bargain with God to help these individuals. Another goal of ours for next year is to truly grow with Laced. We just want to continue to grow and build our legacy all around. That's the goal!"

You can keep up with all things First Class Sneaks via their Instagram and official website.

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