DDAH
Sneaker store & café · Sofia
S/TORE
C/AFÉ
11-ti Avgust 14B
DDAH · S/TORE · C/AFÉ
scroll. the d is the door
From an Instagram Page to a Sneaker Store and Café in Sofia
By close friends.
DDAH started as an Instagram page, a handful of pairs and a spreadsheet. Three years later, it opened as a two-floor sneaker store with a café inside, on 11-ti Avgust Street in Sofia. We built every part of it ourselves.
41
transactions on opening day
239
transactions in the first nine days
28
pairs sold in one day at the first pop-up
13
resale platforms and stores across Europe before the store opened
Data sources: DDAH sales logs, 2021 to 2023, and the store's point-of-sale export, March 2024.
Sofia · BG
Sneaker stores have a timing problem. People come in for a release, maybe twice a year, and then disappear. The rent doesn't.
We were also starting from the wrong end, with no shop, no investor and no retail experience. We needed proof before we needed a lease, and a reason for people to walk in during the weeks with no drop.
a year at a glance. an illustration, not our numbers
1 of 4For more than two years, DDAH sold online first, through its own page, resale platforms across Europe and direct to traders. Every sale went into the log, so by the time we chose what went on the wall, we weren't guessing. Fewer than one in twenty pairs ever sold below cost.
real lines from the log, prices left out
2 of 4Before the store, the stock went to the people. The first pop-up moved 28 pairs in one day, and that day became The Culture. Pop-ups in Sofia and Plovdiv and two editions of Sneakerness, Europe's sneaker convention, followed. Every event was a live test with no lease attached.
28 pairs in one day
drag, from the first pop-up to sneakerness
3 of 4The logo, the website, product photography, 60 reels, Kickzmas, an advent calendar of drops and Black Friday campaigns were running for years before there was an address on the door. On opening day, the store already had an audience, not just a sign.
drag them around. the years before the address
On the shelf: 12 of the 60 reels before the store
tap a reel to watch it with sound
4 of 4Sneakers gave people a reason to visit for a release. Coffee gave us the opportunity to make DDAH part of their everyday routine. DDAH got one brand across both, with one menu, one bag, one loyalty card and one till for a Jordan 4 and a coffee alike.
DDAH · one tilltap to addS/TORE
C/AFÉ
Sneaker store & café
11-ti Avgust 14B, Sofia
a jordan 4 and a coffee, same till
One bag, one card, one wall.
A day at DDAH
08:00
The first pour
sneakers a few times a year. coffee every morning
DDAH · 11-ti Avgust 14BFloor 1 · shop and café
cm · drawn from our measurements
the plan on the left, the room on the right. tap a number
the reels and posts the store put out after it opened
ddah.store
POV: you own a sneaker store
tap the sides to skip
ddah.store
DDAH Sneaker Store & Café
11-ti Avgust 14B, Sofia
The result ✦
On 23 March 2024, DDAH opened its doors with a brand, menu, packaging and invitation designed in-house. The till recorded 41 transactions on opening day and 239 in the first nine days.
you're
invited
Grand opening
Sneaker store & café
Saturday, March 23, 2024
2:00 PM to 10 PM
11-ti Avgust 14B, Sofia, Bulgaria
Saturday 23 to Sunday 31 March 2024. Source: the store's point of sale.
By opening day, we had spent years learning what customers actually bought, so the shelves reflected that experience rather than guesswork. The café gave customers another reason to visit between releases.
the short answers.
DDAH started as an Instagram sneaker-reselling page and grew into a two-floor sneaker store and café, which opened on 11-ti Avgust Street in Sofia, Bulgaria, in March 2024. The team now behind close friends. founded it and built the brand, website, stock, store and café themselves.
Sell online long enough to know your market before you sign a lease. DDAH logged every sale from its own page, resale platforms and pop-ups for more than two years, so the store's wall was built on real sales data. Build the audience early too, so opening day has people waiting.
A café gives customers a reason to visit between sneaker releases. For DDAH, the idea was to combine destination shopping with an everyday coffee experience. The café and the sneaker store were built as one brand, with shared packaging, one loyalty programme and a single checkout system.
Before establishing the agency, the team behind close friends. developed DDAH's brand identity, e-commerce website, product photography, social content and campaigns, retail concept, café menu, packaging and grand opening. They also managed the stock, consignment and the systems supporting the store.
We've done it with our own name above the door. Tell us what you're building.
The Culture
The first DDAH pop-up sold 28 pairs in a day and turned into something bigger. See the sneaker event series that drew more than 16,000 visitors.
Explore the case study →
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