Today we’d like to introduce you to Ramiro Moreno.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Ramiro. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I was born in Mexico and I came to the United States back in 1991 and immediately I started to work on a wholesale export company. I had love sports since I was a kid, and I remember that after job on the ride back home, my uncle used to listened to basketball or baseball games on the radio and I used to ask him all the time “what’s the score” because I didn’t speak English at that time and I couldn’t understand anything and actually that was the way I learned to speak English later on by listening to sports games on the radio and watching them on TV.
So, after a few years working there I became the manager’s right hand at that company and around that time I met a person from Thailand that told me that he was buying certain used clothing and if I was interested to learn about it, I just need to go to his warehouse, but it was kind of far away from where I was living at the time and I didn’t have a car either but I had a bike and that’s how I went there, but it took me about 3 hrs. back and forth.
Once I was in his warehouse he tough me what kind of used clothing he was buying at the time and even told me where can I go to look for this used clothing, that it was at flea markets and thrift stores. So, on the next Saturday I went to a flea market and made some purchase and right after I took the stuff that I bought to his warehouse and in that first time only 1/3 of the stuff that I bought was useful for him, but I end up breaking even that day and I said: it’s OK, it’s the first time, I only lost the bike’s flat tire repair fee, but I didn’t give up and then the next time it got better and better every time, and one day that I was in his warehouse I saw that all of his stuff was very disorganized and I told him. If any day you want to organized all of this mess just give a call and I can come to help you.
And he actually called me on one Sunday to do it and it took me about four Sundays to finish organizing everything and at the end he really liked it. so, I was working with him almost every weekend until I was lay off from my regular job and I end up working full time for him, after few months working there I gained his trust and friendship and he started to teach me all the secrets and details on how to identify certain expensive vintage clothing and their real worth and after learning all this I was able to buy more clothing where I could make more profit, at the time I used to sell all the stuff that I got to him but sometimes I used to tell him. you know, somebody have this particular item but he’s asking way too much for me and he told me, just get it and once one of my best customers comes you can sell it to him, and I did exactly that several times.
So, now I found myself with all this knowledge about vintage clothing but still working for him and I remember that people that knew me from the same business circle used to tell me: what are you still doing there?, you know a lot about vintage clothing and now you can start your own business without him, but I said, no!. he’s been such a nice guy with me and he doesn’t deserve that, but one day he came to me and told me: you know what?, I have decided to close my warehouse and move back to Thailand, but don’t worry you have enough knowledge already about this business that you can do it by yourself and you can even take care of my customers.
And that’s how in 1998 I started with this vintage clothing wholesale business at first, because at the time I was just too busy to think about a retail store, but when this wholesale business started to decline because it was just too hard to find the stuff that this wholesale customers were looking for, that’s why I made the switch into vintage sports clothing back in 2006 and that’s in what we specialized today.
I started selling this vintage sports clothing in local flea markets (Rose bowl, O.C., etc) and selling jerseys and Starter Jackets on eBay until I made my own website, and what gave me the idea to open a retail store was that very often I was receiving calls from local customers that saw our items listed on our website, asking if they can come to me to pick up certain items that they liked. And one day one of my local wholesale customers came to my place to buy some stuff for her local shop and after been talking about business she offered me the chance to put couple of racks just outside her shop in Echo Park, which I did for a couple of weeks and then I took over her studio right next to her shop that she was renting back in 2012 and stayed there for almost a year, until one day she came over and told me that somebody else was interested in renting that space and was willing to pay her $500 more a month, which I couldn’t afford it.
And I remember that about the same time me and my family were going through a very difficult financially situation, in which we were losing our house, so I found myself with no place for my business and no house to live in, but a miracle happened and supernaturally I was able to get this place for business in where I’ve been for the last 4 years, paying about four times more of what I used to pay her and I thank God for that because It haven’t been just few months but it’s been years already that I’ve been here.
And also I thank the customers that have been supporting us for all these years, because our shop it’s not like a 99 cents store that anyone can buy anything but it’s a specialty store that needs special customers to buy our hard to find stuff.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Well, it haven’t been easy at all, because everything that’s is worthy, it’s going to be hard to get there. I’ve got some ups and downs in life just like anybody else, but when a person is at his lowest point in life, it’s there when you really know what kind of person you are or know what’s really in your heart and what really are you made of, you know, because when you have everything or when everything comes to you so easily, money cars, houses, etc. the person seems to be very happy, but those are things that does not remain forever, they can disappear so easily at any time, so we can’t base our happiness depending on those things, that’s why when some people lose all these things, they end up killing themselves.
Everyday have its own challenges, so we have just to take care one day at a time, this world wasn’t formed on just one day, it took six days and in the seven day its creator rested form a biblical point of view.
So, I’ve been having all kind of struggles during this last 4 years, but look, I’m still here today, and that’s what it really matters most.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about XL3 Vintage Clothing – what should we know?
XL3 Vintage Clothing, is a company that I wouldn’t say is like no other but at least there are very few stores out there like this one. We specialized in vintage sports clothing from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s, in other words, a hard to find stuff. We carry vintage sports T-Shirts, Sweaters, Jerseys, Jackets, etc. and not only from local sports teams but for almost every team on the United States and Canada, something that is very hard to do.
For example: It’s hard to find a New York Yankees T-Shirt, Jerseys or Jacket here in L.A. but we have plenty of them and that’s what we are known for having stuff that no many other stores have here in Los Angeles area. What I am most proud of as a company, it’s honestly our humble beginnings and thank God and our customers that have brought us here to where we are today.
And something else that set us apart from others, it’s our huge and variety selection that we have here and that everything is so well organized, by sports, by teams, by sizes, by colors, by players, that customers don’t have to waste their time here digging, if they don’t want to, because if you know exactly what are you looking for and that’s all you need, you can be out of here in five minutes, even when we have thousands of items here.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
All the credit is for my heavenly Father first and for the people that he used to introduced me into this business which was this Thai guy that I mentioned at the beginning, who’s American name was Bob, because he had such a kind heart even after making a lot of money in this business to reveal and teach me secrets and knowledge about this business that not many people around are willing to do, but he did it, and I’m thankful for that.
And also to my family, especially to my wife, that she’s been there even throughout the hardest situations, she still remains by my side.
Pricing:
- Our pricing is based on demand /supply base
- Vintage sports t-shits, can go like from $20 to $100 depend on the t-shirt.
- Vintage NBA Jersey from $55 to $350 depend on the jersey
- Vintage Sports Jacket from $80 to $300 depend on the Jacket
- Vintage MLB Jersey from $50 to $150 depend on the Jersey
- Vintage NFL Jersey from $45 to $150 depend on the Jersey
Contact Info:
- Address: Xl3 Vintage Clothing
1832 W. Sunset blvd.
Los Angeles, CA. 90026 - Website: https://xl3vintageclothing.com
- Phone: 323-440-6932
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://imgrab.com/instagram/xl3onsunset/3249377160/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/XL3-Vintage-Clothing-239300979437110/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/xl3vintagecloth
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/xl3-vintage-clothing-los-angeles
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