Flashback to the week leading up to NBA All-Star, 2012. I was heavy into the sneaker forums and stumbled upon the info that a shop in my hometown of Montreal was going to release the insanely hyped Galaxy Foamposites! After some quick research, I found out about Exclucity, a sneaker shop just coming into their own, at the dawn of an inspiring progression with the biggest sneaker launch in their history.
To celebrate the historic launch, Exclucity decided to take a moment to give back to the community by auctioning one pair of the Galaxy Foams and giving the auction money to a brave young local girl, who had lost her leg during her battle with cancer.

The day after the launch, I met the good people from Exclucity for the first time. I was hunting for the Nike Flight Ones and decided to grab a few pairs of Nike KD 4 ASG for myself and some friends. This chance meeting affected my involvement in the local sneaker scene more than anyone might realize.

In the following months, I witnessed the evolution of this little shop from the Westside. Capitalizing on the expansion of social media, I saw them take hold of a city and ask them to rise up with them as they aimed to make their mark in the world of sneakers.

During the course of the last two years, I have been blessed to be included in the opening of three more Exclucity shops, and honored that they would speak of me as a family during such momentous occasions.

Last month, Exclucity’s original shop went through a transformation, a slight expansion and revamp to give the store a more deserving and modern look. They followed this up with a relaunch celebrated by a great event, and highlighted by some choice restocks.

The obvious change in square footage aside, XCLU manages to increase their importance in our beautiful city and reminds us that “coming home” has never been cooler.

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