Paul Bass Photo
Boyd outside his new storefront.
Rashaan Boyd has returned to the corner of Edgewood Avenue and Day Street to reclaim a piece of the block.
Boyd has transformed a vacant storefront — the former home of A Walk In Truth Christian bookstore — into a storefront for his luxury streetwear brand A Hustler’s Vibe. He plans a grand opening event Saturday, May 13.
Boyd, 27, grew up across the street at 99 Edgewood when it was a housing coop. His grandmother, Rosalee Givens Howard, who raised him, served a stint as coop president. The coop failed a decade ago. Now a Fairfield developer owns and manages it.
As a kid, Boyd hung out at the old Antillean Manor complex on the property abutting the storefront on Day Street. They called it The Castle. The Castle, too, was a housing coop. That, too, failed. That, too, has fallen into the hands of a private company, Carabetta Companies, which tore it down and is now in the process of rebuilding it (pictured above) as its own development.
Boyd left the neighborhood after graduating Hillhouse High School. A friend named Ricardo Steele suggested they design clothing. “He had the idea,” Boyd said. “I had the brains to do it.” And the hustle.
For the past four years Boyd has filled his Grand Cherokee with enough jackets and shirts and sweatshirts and hats to leave just enough room to drive. Then he’s traveled to different states, hit pop-up events, communicated with potential customers through his website and Instagram and Facebook sites.
Now he has parked his Cherokee on Edgewood and set down commercial roots on the block of his residential roots.
He has the A Hustler’s Vibe logo up above the front door …
… and is finishing up the inside in advance of the grand opening.
“‘Hustler’s Vibe’ is self-explanatory,” Boyd said when asked about the business name. “My logo is a hand holding money. But the slogan is, ‘All hustle, no luck.’ You’ve got to hustle for everything you want in life. Luck doesn’t come too often. How many of us have hit the lottery? But most of us get up each and every day and go meet with like-minded individuals, have conversations, build relationships, and make money.”
Memories haunt the block. Especially Sean Reeves Jr.’s ghost. In 2011, a bullet meant for someone else ended Sean’s life at 16 years old at the other end of Day Street.
“That’s my beloved friend, best friend. Everything I do is for him. Hopefully he lives through me,” Boyd said. He tattooed Sean’s name on his arm. He plans a mural in his memory for the new store’s exterior wall facing Day.
A Hustler's Vibewear.
Find out more about A Hustler’s Vibe at its website, here on Instagram, or here on Facebook.