ARLINGTON, Texas—Beginning his business by selling sneakers out of the trunk of his car, Brandon Avaroa, the co-owner of Commodities, long dreamed of opening a storefront for sneakerheads and vintage seekers.
Avaroa first arrived in Arlington after relocating from Glendale, Arizona. Before selling sneakers, he first worked in the service industry as a busboy then as a bartender. But he said selling sneakers proved more rewarding than working in restaurants.
“I get to choose my hours, I get to choose what I want to do,” Avaroa said. “You get what you put in, and it’s different whenever you’re working in the service industry. There are bad days and good days, but the whole thing is that you get to decide what kind of day it is.”
Avaroa’s goal since the beginning was opening a storefront.
“I can remember myself working at my job, kind of daydreaming about it and drawing out plans of how I wanted the store to look,” Avaroa said.
He first began selling sneakers as a passion and out of enjoyment of wearing them, but he was not always surrounded by the newest kicks.
“It was more of not being able to have them as a young kid that as soon as I was able to afford them, that’s when the hunger for wanting all the sneakers came about,” Avaroa said.
When the pandemic struck, Avaroa fully invested his time into selling sneakers. Avaroa was able to grow his business through meeting people at gas stations and selling through Facebook.
In the beginning, Avaroa went to local sneaker conventions, where he eventually met his business partner, José Gutierrez. At these conventions, Avaroa was also able to meet other people in the same business, enlarging his network. Eventually, he and Gutierrez began to attend nationwide sneaker conventions held in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Even though opening up a business is a large feat, Avaroa’s team has always believed in him and in themselves.
“He’s definitely a big dreamer,” Gutierrez said. “He’s always expanding the levels to how you think.”
Finally, on Dec. 17, 2022, Avaroa was able to open Commodities’ doors. Through perseverance and faith, he was able to open his business—but he said he knows he could not have done it by himself.
“I know for a fact if it wasn’t by my faith and by the people God put in front of me, this wouldn’t even happen,” Avaroa said.
With almost two years since its opening, co-owner of Commodities and Avaroa’s girlfriend, Ashley Flores, said she has seen him grow into a confident business owner.
“He’s very calm and collected and knows exactly how to handle stress, to not allow us, the team, to be stressed but rather delegate things moving forward,” Flores said.
In the future, Avaroa said he looks to become a streetwear staple in Arlington.
“I want to be recognized to where people come to the Cowboys Stadium, but they say, ‘Hey, have you heard about this store? We gotta check it out. We gotta go to Commodities.’”
Eventually, Avaroa said he wants to expand his brand along with expanding ideas involving garments Commodities makes. He also wants to expand locations and go back to conventions where it all started. He said he dreams of being able to travel across the U.S. and even outside the states to share the Commodities brand.
To find Commodities on a map, please click here.
