My first experience at Daves Quality Meat, NYC…
I don’t want to make any powerful enemies in the NYC sneakerhead scene, so I’d like to preface this drop by saying that I realize and acknowledge that DQM is one of the most respected sneaker boutiques in New York City, and the U.S. My experience was just one experience, of one person, on one day, and is in no way meant to me a thorough review of the store. Dave’s Quality Meat is referred to in sneaker collecting circles as DQM and they came to prominence after a collaboration with Nike on a pair of Air Max 90’s. These joints are affectionately known as the DQM Bacons. A pair of these will run you several hundred bucks so don’t even think about it. When Nike debuted the ‘One Time Only’ package I copped the Air Max 95/360’s that matched the Bacon’s colorways.
Thursday is payday, and for a fiend like me, that means Thursday is copp some new gear day. I made a plan to meet up with Dallas after work so we could hit up DQM, as neither of us had ever been there. I wanted to go in the store with a purpose, so I checked their website to browse their stock and pick the kicks I was going to cop. I narrowed it down to two that were both marked as in stock on their site; the Air Max 90/360 hybrid in the Black Lava/Midnight Fog/Chlorine Blue colorway, and the new P-Rod/Free 5.0 hybrid being referred to as the ‘Free-Rod’.
Dallas was chilling at a free concert at City Hall Park so I got to the store before him and did my rounds. The first thing I noticed was that the Free-Rod was not up on the shelves, so I asked the guy behind the cash register if they had them. “We don’t have em” was his curt response. Now these shoes were added to their website two days ago, and if you go to their site, on the first page is a picture of these sneakers marked ‘Recently Added’, so I felt that it was a valid question for me to ask whether they had just not received their shipment yet, or if they were sold out. He looked at me like I had just asked him the stupidest question he had ever heard, and half mumbled “sold out”. Okay, so they didn’t have my first choice, but now let me look for the AM 90/360’s. These were also not on the shelves, so I went back to the cash register counter and I said, “there was also a pair of Air Max 90/360 Hybrids up on your site…” He rudely interrupted me, “Look, if it’s not on the shelves that means we don’t have it, okay?”
He was a dick, plain and simple. Reading about DQM in the past, one of the aspects of the store that their loyal supporters gushed about was how friendly the staff were, and how there was none of that elitist ‘we’re too cool to need your business’ attitude you experience at sneaker and streetwear boutiques, record shops, and other places where the staff act like they’re better than you because they earn minimum wage at a really “cool” store. I did not find this to be true at all. On the contrary, the guy that I dealt with there was acting like such a rude elitist prick, that it almost seemed like he was trying to scare away potential customers who were n00b-ish enough to dare to ask if they had something in stock.
What did they have in stock? Well they did NOT have the Free-Rod’s or AM 90/360’s their site claimed were in stock. They also did not have the AM 90 ‘Wheat Skulls’, AM 90 ‘Elmers Glue’, The ‘Nikebook’ dunk hi’s, or the ‘Navy/Neon/Silver’ AM 90’s – all of which are listed as in stock on their website. They had a shit load of Vans, a ton of Nike SB Blazers, some of the less appealing/less desirable colorways of dunk hi’s. As far as Air Max’s go, they had all of the recent crop of ugly colorway Air Max 1’s, the Major Taylor 90’s, and those busted white 90’s with the square polka dots. Not all that much else.
I left empty-handed, and feeling like unless they release another Tier 0 joint like the Bacon, I can’t imagine that I would have a reason to go there again. I guess it’s a good place to get Quickstrike Nike’s, but I would never go off information on their website again, and I hope that the staff is not usually as rude as the guy I encountered.
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DQM Store Review
Pros(+): Quickstrike account with Nike, eclectic selection
Cons(-): Unreliable website info, rude staff, couldn’t find a single pair of kicks in the whole store that I would wear.
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