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The Marathon Clothing is a store that was owned by Nipsey Hussle. The rapper went back to his roots, opening the brick and mortar shop in his childhood hometown of Crenshaw, back in 2017. His older brother, Black Sam, is the store’s co-owner.
While the clothing store was one of Nipsey’s proudest accomplishments, it became the scene of a terrible tragedy over the weekend. Police have confirmed that the 33-year-old rapper was killed after being shot multiple times in the store’s parking lot.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Nipsey Was Shot & Killed Outside of the Store on March 31
Just before 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, Nipsey Hussle was shot multiple times in the parking lot of Marathon Clothing. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was just 33 years old.
Police have confirmed that two other men were also hurt in the shooting; one was still receiving treatment as of Sunday night and the other declined treatment, according to Los Angeles police Lt. Chris Martinez.
A couple of hours before his death, Nipsey tweeted about having enemies. You can see the tweet below.
Having strong enemies is a blessing.
At this time, police are still searching for the suspect. The LAPD posted the following update on Twitter.
UPDATE: The suspect in the shooting is described as a male black & LAPD South Bureau Homicide is conducting an investigation to locate him and anyone else involved. You can expect the area of Slauson & Crenshaw to be impacted by streets closures & heavy traffic for several hours.
2. The Store Carries Various Items for Men, Women & Kids
The Marathon Clothing carries a wide range of items from T-shirts to hats for both men and women. The store even offers a kids line. Most of the items have “Crenshaw” written on them, a nod to the area where Nipsey Hussle grew up — and where he decided to open up shop.
The store has received mixed reviews on Yelp and has a 3-star overall rating.
“I’m a huge supporter of the marathon store; we’re talking about two hard-working individuals that put their all into opening up an established business …… incredible considering where these two men come from ……very good job. I know for sure that it’s more to come with the ambition that is shown through these two men (blk sam and Nipsey Hussle),” one review reads, giving the store 5 stars.
Many of the 1-star ratings have to do with shipped orders and some were left after Nipsey Hussle’s death.
3. 21 Savage & Russell Westbrook Are Just 2 of the Big Names That Attended the Store’s Grand Opening in 2017
Nipsey Hussle and Black Sam held a sizeable event for the store’s grand opening on June 17, 2017. Not only did friends and family come to support, but fans were lined up outside as well. Nipsey and Sam also had the support of several big names in the industry, including 21 Savage, Russell Westbrook, Jim Jones, Vegas Jones, and Demarcus Cousins.
“The flagship store has all kinds of futuristic features, including programmable technology built into the store’s design along with products for exclusive Nipsey releases. Customers can download a special app that will help them activate special features when they purchase a particular item in the store,” XXL Magazine reported at the time.
4. Nipsey Hussle Called it a ‘Smart Store’ With the Goal to ‘Be an Urban Sanrio’
Nipsey was extremely proud of his “smart store,” which has its own app to help people find what they are looking for. The app changes the way customers shop and helped create a different type of experience for the consumer — which is what Nipsey wanted.
“We had a ton of different takes of how we wanted to execute it. We wanted to use a model like Starbucks where there’s an experience in it. It’s free WiFi, you can come and get some work done. It’s jazz in the background. While you’re sitting down, there’s a ton of products around you that cater to the most likely patron that’s going to walk into a Starbucks — a college student, a professional who just got off work. The model for this is having that curated experience,” he told Billboard back in 2017.
“The idea will continue to evolve and revolve around content in a physical space as opposed to being delivered to a digital space. And that’s the two main innovations: I believe that the value proposition is that there’s no compromise to the content and it’s also a curated experience,” he added.
5. He Had His Eye on Real Estate
Things had been going really well for Nipsey before his death. In fact, this past February, Nipsey announced that he purchased the whole plaza where he once rented space for The Marathon Clothing.
“Before we was renting here, I was hustling in this parking lot. It’s just always been a hub for local entrepreneurs,” he told Forbes.
Nipsey and his business partner, Dave Gross, paid “a couple of million” to purchase the plaza and had big plans for the area.
“Within 18 months or so, they’ll knock everything down and rebuild it as a six-story residential building atop a commercial plaza where a revamped Marathon store will be the anchor tenant,” Forbes reported.
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