Three businesses open in one downtown Wichita spot: ‘We kind of have a power store now’

Carrie Rengers
·3 min read

Several young male retail entrepreneurs who found success together in the past have found it together again in a new spot.

Knockout Sneaker Boutique, YBG Studios and Two A.M. Fits are back in business out of the same place. This time, it’s downtown at 600 E. Douglas next to the Old Mill Tasty Shop.

“We kind of have a power store now,” said Two A.M. Fits owner C.R. Curless.

Once the most heralded of the remaining Towne West Square businesses, Knockout Sneaker Boutique had a couple of different spaces at the mall over the past couple of years. For a time, the other two businesses operated at the store as well.

Knockout owners Michael Reyes, Cade McGaugh and Ernesto Hernandez, who runs their Manhattan store, began discussing finding another space after their Towne West lease was supposed to be up in February.

Knockout Sneaker Boutique co-owners Michael Reyes, left, and Cade McGaugh along with partner Ernesto Hernandez, not pictured, have opened in a 3,500-square-foot space at 600 E. Douglas that has room for walls of tennis shoes and space for two other businesses as well.
Knockout Sneaker Boutique co-owners Michael Reyes, left, and Cade McGaugh along with partner Ernesto Hernandez, not pictured, have opened in a 3,500-square-foot space at 600 E. Douglas that has room for walls of tennis shoes and space for two other businesses as well.

Then power issues — Evergy has cut power to the struggling mall over failure to pay its bills — quickened their decision and allowed them to get out of their lease, McGaugh said.

“We just decided to move.”

He said there are a lot of events downtown. The new store is across from Naftzger Park.

“There’s never really a dead time downtown,” McGaugh said. “It’s just constantly busy.”

He said a lot of customers have followed the store from Towne West, and now there’s a lot of walk-in traffic, too.

The 3,500-square-foot space has room for walls of tennis shoes and space for the other two businesses as well.

“We all just kind of wanted to come together to make the biggest spot we could,” McGaugh said.

YBG Studios had only been open in the Garages incubator space at Revolutsia a few months, but owner Mark Lozada said it made sense to be back with his friends.

Two A.M. Fits owner C.R. Curless, left and YBG Studios owner Mark Lozada have set up their clothes in a space they share with Knockout Sneaker Boutique at 600 E. Douglas.
Two A.M. Fits owner C.R. Curless, left and YBG Studios owner Mark Lozada have set up their clothes in a space they share with Knockout Sneaker Boutique at 600 E. Douglas.

“We all make different things, but it’s all for the same audience, you know?”

When they were together at Towne West, Lozada said “it was cool seeing how everyone paired” their apparel together for complete outfits.

He takes blankets and other kinds of other cloth and repurposes them into clothing that can make a fashion statement.

Curless, too, said, “We provide affordable vintage and streetwear, and it’s all repurposed.” He doesn’t transform the pieces through his own work, but he said he saves vintage items from landfills.

In the new space, he said, “I have met tons of wonderful people, and I’ve been able to help them identify in the fashion they want.”

Lozada said sharing the space gives each of them more freedom to come and go as well.

“It takes a lot off my back,” he said. “I have more time creating my product.”

The businesses keep the same hours, which are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Between catering to similar customers and being their to support one another, Lozada said, “It’s like a family almost.”