When Bob from Changing Hands gave me a copy of the annual New Times “Best of Phoenix” issue – I said thanks, asked him if they won again (they did), and put it in my bag. I knew I would read it later (it’s a tradition after all), and we were busy.
I didn’t give a second thought to the possibility that Hoodlums might be in there. After all, we haven’t even been open for over ten months! Besides, after being at ASU, which is essentially a community of its own, all of these years – we’ve grown accustomed to people out in the real world (like New Times writers) not even knowing we exist. We’ve never felt slighted or anything – in fact we totally understand. People from off-campus just don’t go on campus just to shop. That’s why we didn’t do much advertising on the street at the old store.
Anyway, later in the day Kristian said “Do you know that we are in here?”. I thought he was joking. But when he showed me the category, even though I wasn’t aware such a category existed, I knew it was our destiny.
So hoka hey, our first New Times award. Pretty cool. Next year, we will try to give our great fellow indie stores a run for their money in the more traditional categories – but for this year – we’ll gladly accept Best Addition to a Strip Mall.