PANAMA CITY — It’s the start of a new journey for sneakerhead Trevor Byron, who expanded his clothing brand to sell designer shoes and vintage clothing out of his new store in Panama City.

Byron, a Panama City native, launched his latest brand last year, and now he’s living his dream as the owner of Awoken Kicks — a sneaker and vintage clothing store in Panama City. The storefront held its grand opening ceremony on June 4 at its first location, 1106A Harrison Ave., and operates from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

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Awoken Kicks will operate under these hours through the end of August and will establish temporary hours after the summer season.

"If you wake up every day and want to go after your dreams, then you’ll have successful ideas of what you want to do in life, and that’s what I did,” Byron said. “I knew without a doubt I wanted to open a store in my hometown because it all started here for me.”

The Mosley High School graduate started his journey at a young age, growing up with an ambition to open his own sneaker store, and frequently visited national sneaker conferences with his brother, Ethan. He started with his clothing brand, Awoken Dreams, which has had much success since its launch in October of 2019. Moving forward, he spent many of his pandemic days learning the logistics of running his own store, leading to the idea of opening Awoken Kicks.

His inspiration is derived from something he reminds himself every day — that’s to chase his dreams.

"When everything happened during the pandemic, I was at home from school a lot. But I took it as an opportunity to learn and do a lot of research and dive into the mindset of a business owner and bring something new to Panama City."

Awoken Kicks' inventory features a wide variety of exclusive sneakers, designer bags and vintage clothing. Popular labels including Louis Vuitton, Air Jordan, Yeezy and Nike Dunk fill the store’s shelves, and the store also includes a pre-owned selection of similar items. The store sells a wide variety of hats, purses, bags, hoodies, jerseys and more.

Byron runs the shop with the help of two friends and his brother, and the crew frequently announces special discounts and impromptu giveaways on its social media pages. The friend group has grown together over the years with each other’s support.

“It’s been amazing to watch his journey,” said friend Jake Piorkowski. “We were at a sneaker event when he first mentioned opening a store in the area, and I thought it was brilliant because I knew it would be huge for the city. A lot of people love the culture of sneakers and streetwear.”

Looking into the future of Awoken Kicks, Byron plans to steadily grow his brand in many aspects. Eventually, he wants to create an online website for the store, introduce new inventory, and open more locations within the region. But his primary focus is on perfecting his first store location, hoping it will become a staple in the community.

“My main goal is to build out my first store in Panama City before expanding, so it’s important for me to be a part of the growing city,” Byron said. “I definitely hope to expand to areas that have a need for stores like mine because I want the help the sneakerhead and streetwear community as a whole.”

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City: Awoken Kicks opens with designer shoes, vintage clothes