June 7, 2023 • 30 mins
It's not every day you get invited to a collectibles shop after hours to record a conversation with the shop owner. Over the last few months, I've really started to find my footing here in Denver. I'm starting to make friends, create connections, and collaborate with the collector's community here in the Mile High. I'm genuinely starting to feel more and more like myself and less like I'm here because this is where my job is. Anthony (A-Tiz) is an owner and operator of the ( Out The Box ) collectibles & consignment shop in Thornton, CO. I've visited this spot a handful of times, and over these visits, he's become one of my collector community buddies quickly. I'm excited for you to hear this podcast. Anthony has a very interesting story that we've only scratched the surface on.
My audio quality will get better and better as I gain more experience in mobile recording. What I mean by that is recording podcasts outside of the radio station. With that said this is very very listenable. I'm just my own worst critic lol.
Remember, It's Cool to be You!
My audio quality will get better and better as I gain more experience in mobile recording. What I mean by that is recording podcasts outside of the radio station. With that said this is very very listenable. I'm just my own worst critic lol.
Remember, It's Cool to be You!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
So first off, let me justsay how cool it feels to be in
here after hours. Oh yeah,yeah, which is really fun. And
it's gonna sound strange, but there'sa specific smell when I walk into out
the box. I don't exactly knowwhat it is, but I'm always like,
I'm here, Yeah, let's findsome toys. That's awesome. Man.
So one thing on that smell topic. So in the morning, before
(00:24):
I open up the doors, Imake sure like I vacuum, yeah,
and then I walk around and Ispray for breeze everywhere, like if a
female was coming over. That's whatI used to do when I was younger.
You know that makes sense. SoI've got to make sure it's cleaning,
it smells good, everything. Yeah. So it's JR here for Cool
to be you the podcast with myboy Anthony A Tis one of the operators
an owner about the box and Thornton, Colorado kind enough to open up your
(00:47):
spot to me after hours, andI'm really curious to kind of learn more
about your story because in passing,I've been in here a few times.
Yeah, and you've told me alittle bit about how you kind of started
here as a volunteer. Yeah,no, no pay, no anything.
How did that come to be?So to kind of start from the beginning,
Um, my mom's boyfriend, hewas working out a day labor and
(01:10):
at that point in time, Iwas selling T shirts on eBay with two
of my best friends and he's like, hey man, there's a shop that
it's like a consignment shop. You'dgo in there and sell your stuff.
So he told me about it.I went over there. Um it was
called the Pop Culture Connection okay,and it was ran by this guy named
Mike. So I went in there. I was like, hey man,
I sell T shirts and UM,he's like, yeah, you can rent
(01:30):
out like a T shirt rack fromme, you know, and just pay
rent monthly and you can sell yourT shirts in here and I get a
percentage. So I did that,and I did it for about a week
or two, and I was goingin there like every other day, and
he's like, hey man, you'rein here all the time. Why don't
you just volunteer and you don't haveto pay rent on your spot? So
I was like, I was like, bet right, you know. And
(01:51):
that's kind of that's kind of howI got into into the toys because,
like I said before, that Iwas just doing T shirts. I'll go
to the thrift store and find usetwo shirts and just tell them moneybay Okay,
yeah, see, because I waswondering if you were always a collector
or if it was like it waslike reselling man, Like okay, Like
I don't know, I don't Icollect T shirts? Yeah, I have
(02:14):
like in my in my closet.I got about two hundred two shirts in
my closet that I don't even wear. But other than that, like the
toys, man, it's not Idon't really collect toys. I guess since
I've been doing this, this isright right getting in deep death like nobody
knows to know. But yeah,man, like I collect what I used
(02:34):
to play with when I was akid. Yeah, that's what I do.
You know what I'm saying. Yeah, But um, so you come
from a background of like designing andscreen printing T shirts? Um known Like
to be honest, man, II my background is um illegal, Like
that's where I got my hustle from. You know what I'm saying. That's
where I got the mentality of doublingup to say, you know what I'm
(02:55):
saying, right, Um, ButI don't know, man, like,
like I said, I love toysand I love being around collectors because it's
a whole different breed of person.Yeah, and it took me kind of
moving here to Denver to learn that, yeah, you know, because I
was like, as a kid,pro wrestling was my life, you know
(03:15):
that and TMNT and it was like, gosh, you know when you moved
from city to city for your career, Yeah, yeah, you're not ever
really there long enough to like,you know, develop real strong you know,
friendships and relationships. And I don'tknow, there was something about coming
(03:36):
here. I met some guy here, went to a couple of different shows
and shops, and then all ofa sudden, it's like I'm a part
of this like Denver Male High collectorscommunity. And I was like, damn,
I kind of feel like I'm apart of something, right, It's
amazing, Right, That's that's oneof the reasons. Like, so,
I guess to get back into howit started, as uh, like I
(03:57):
said, I was volunteering at thatspot. Um I started. I was
there like at least three to fourtimes a week. Yeah, and um
I was working at nine to five. I work construction for about thirteen years.
Okay, Wow, so I wouldgo to work about three o'clock in
the morning, get off of workabout two o'clock in the afternoon, Um,
go straight over there, and thenkick it over there for until about
(04:20):
six or seven. Dang. Butit became such a habit that the owner,
um, like when I would showup, he would walk out,
you know what I'm saying. SoI was there most of the time by
myself and stuff. But it wasfun man, Like I said, like
getting back into the community. Man, the collector's community. It's amazing.
They're they're amazing people, Like it'sreal strong and it's nuts how many people
(04:41):
love toy still, you know whatI'm saying, It's amazing. So how
do you go from you know,volunteering to kind of help with your rent
right to all of a sudden it'slike you and maybe another guy that are
kind Yeah. So um, soI was over there at pop and then
Ernesto he's my business partner. Um, he came through one day. I
(05:01):
guess he's seen because when I wasthere, I would do most of the
social media posting. Okay, soI would blast it on Facebook and Instagram,
and I guess our nest well seenit there and then he came through.
Um he did the same thing Ikind of did. He got a
spot, and then he became avolunteer, and then I want to say
he like a year into it,maybe nine months into it, he opened
(05:25):
up a T shirt shop within thatshop, okay, and then uh,
in what year was this twenty nineteen? So this is pre pandemic. Yeah,
pre pandemic. Wow. And um, so that scenario happened. And
then around January, February and March, um, we got good enough in
there, and he was like,oh, well, let's all become business
partners. You know, you guysare here enough and you know put in
(05:46):
the time. So we got intothat, we signed the contracts and everything,
and then about four weeks later,COVID hit man. So COVID happens.
The shop has to shut down,the world has to shut down,
and it's it's so crazy to eventhink about that. That was like three
years ago. Now. Yeah,it's nothing right now, because when you're
while we were all in it,it seemed like it was lasting forever.
(06:10):
Yeah, no, it felt likeforever. And now that we're out of
it, it's almost like, damn, that felt like it was so long.
Ago. Yeah, and it kindof never It felt like it never
even happened, like the mask andall the madness about it, craziness,
dude. And I know, workingin media, they classified me as a
essential worker. Yeah, I hadto come in every day like this is
bullcrap. Did you get the pieceof paper? No? So at my
(06:33):
job they gave us a piece ofpaper. Off you get pulled over,
just giva or essential worker may havean email or something. I don't I
don't really recall. Now how longwas it into the shutdown before the shop
was kind of facing it's you know, last day. So, like I
want to say, like a likewithin covid Um, the owner, the
(06:56):
previous owner, he came to us, He's like, I'm thrown in the
towel. You know, I'm gonnaclaim bankruptcy and everything. So we kind
of, like it said, itkind of caused a little bit of conflict,
man, because, like I said, we just we weeks before,
we just signed a contract becoming businesspartner, you know, legally becoming business
partners, and now we're shutting down. Yeah, like what And then there
was a point where like, um, me and my wife were going in
(07:18):
there every other night, to poststuff on eBay because that was the only
way we can generate income was oneBay. Yeah, you know, So
we were doing that for a minuteand then, like I said, he
just came to us and he's like, I'm gonna throw in the towel.
And then, uh, that night, I went home and rest All hit
me up and he's like, hey, man, let's just buy him out.
And the spot next to my Tshirt shop, Planet Teas is opening
(07:40):
up because they're shutting down because ofCOVID. Okay, So he hit me
up and I was like, allright, man, let's do it.
So I guess the investment was tenthousand on my part in ten thousand on
his part, and that was theinitial investment. That's what got us all
the cases within the shop and justwhat every inventory the previous owner was willing
to let go. Wow. Sothat happened man, And literally, I
(08:03):
want to say the next day orthe day after that, we got the
keys to the spot and just broughteverything over here within a day or two.
Wow. Yeah, it was nuts. So how soon after that time
frame were you able? So wasthis was this previously called out the box?
No, so you said it wassomething else. It was a Genie
Travel okay, and it's been hereforever because, um, when I was
(08:26):
about five years old, we wentto Disneyland and I remember coming in here
and my mom booking what book?Yeah inside of this, inside of Genie
Travel. That's kind of full circle. That's kind of cool. Yeah,
that's really cool. So how longafter that, with all the restrictions of
the pandemic, were you able tolike, you know, get your keys?
You said, when we're able toopen? So that kind of played
(08:48):
a benefit on us because just becauseeverything was closed down and it gave us
enough time to set up the cabinets, to get to get toys in here.
And the thing too is work consignmentmarketplace. So about forty percent of
what you see is under consigned.We're sell other people's products. What we
do is we rent out the shelvesand month to month. So that Simon's
a new thing for me to likeunderstand because my first time coming in here,
(09:09):
yeah you thought it was a collection. Yeah yeah, but there's like
individual collectors that can showcase and selltheir things. It's all about making the
little guy money, you know whatI'm saying. That's one thing about me
is I don't say I do itfor the money, which I don't know.
I don't like to say that,but um, I love to make
other people money, man like Ilove to help out the other guy because
(09:31):
I wish there was someone like thatto help me out along the way.
You know what I'm saying, right, But I don't know, Like I
said, um so that so theCOVID kind of gave us time to set
everything up. So I say,within about three to four weeks, we're
ready to rock and roll. Bythat time, they were slowly lifting in
the bands and letting play her openup to back up, and we had
to wear masks. We had tomake sure we uh put like six feet
(09:54):
put it. I forgot, Yeah, but yeah, it was quick.
I want to say everything everything transitionfrom one shop to another shop within a
month to a month and a half. Wow. So within about that month
and a half, that six weeksor so, you were able to bring
everything in here, set everything upto develop a new name, logo design.
(10:16):
What's crazy about the logo is inthe in the name is Nestel Carna
already had it cooking before all ofit, because I've seen sketches of the
logo, and I've seen sketches ofthe name and everything before anything even like
happened, you know, So itwas pretty cool to see it actually become
like birth, like become something youknow comes Yeah, dude, So tell
(10:37):
me about kind of that first dayopen in the doors as out the box
like that had to have felt likepretty damn incredible that it was amazing,
Man, it was amazing. Ihad my my like I said, my
brother from another mother here, Kiko. I had my best friend Jacob,
and like I said, it wasit was. It was an awesome time,
man. Like I said, itwas nothing like it And I don't
(11:01):
know, I don't even remember ifwe were busy, if we weren't busy.
It was just it was just fun. Yeah. You know what I'm
saying, is this living in themoment. I guess yeah, I've I've
only worked in the retail space.I've never been like an operator or owner
before. Yeah, so I canonly imagine the kind of effort and work
that goes into like just it's tryingto keep this place up in you know,
(11:24):
moving every day. No this andthat's I guess that's one thing.
Um. The previous owner was hisdownfall man is he didn't have a team.
Yeah, like said me and orNesta were we were his team because
otherwise he was there by himself.And this this what's it is now when
it happened, if it's just oneperson, you know, you have to
have a team, this whole thingby yourself. I couldn't imagine. But
(11:46):
like you said, it's it's nutsdo because I wear construction for thirteen years
and then to jump into retail andthen to be the owner and the boss.
Like I was just talking to tomy homie. Um, it's crazy
because when you have a nine tofive, you can have a life out
side of your job. But whenyou own a business, your business is
your life. And that's Radio isthe same way. Like I can't turn
(12:07):
it off even if I don't athome, exactly, I can't. I'm
always doing social media or cutting endorsementsand spots, or coming after hours to
do things like this, you know, like in the in the whole broadcast
space. It's it's like over time, it's it's become this like this monster
where it's not just your AMFM signal, it's also your podcasting, it's also
(12:31):
your social media. You're blogging,you're filming, like you're everything. So
in my world, I have towear a ton of different hats. In
your world, how many hats areyou wearing on any given day? About
like five to twenty maybe no,But like that, I wake up,
man, and first off, I'ma I'm a I'm a husband, I'm
(12:52):
a father of three children. Wow. Like that's the most important hat that
I want to make sure that Ikeep on and make sure I keep it
nice and tight, you know,right. But other than that, like
I said, I'm the guy thattakes pictures here, I'm the guy that
does a social media posts, youknow, the videos, the reels,
um running the front desk, youknow. Like I said, you got
(13:13):
to wear tons and tons of hats, man, yea. And you have
to be built different, Like Isaid, that's one thing is you have
to be you have to be obsessedwith your work. Yeah, otherwise you're
gonna fail. You got to bewilling to like hang around for two hours
after close nerd to show up.And then that's that's how it was in
the beginning. Like I say,when I was volunteering, man, I
(13:33):
was there for four hours and nobodywould walk through that door, but I
was still there, you know whatI'm saying. And I had kids at
home, and I could have beenat home with them, and but I
wanted to learn the process and Ijust wanted to be there, you know.
So you told me when we startedtalking that you were never really a
collector yourself. Yeah, have youlike slowly started to dabble a certain kind
of different things. All my wife, Maunt, she has a crazy funkle
(13:56):
collection. I can't say, likeit's worth anywhere from twenty five to twenty
seven thousand dollars buy a vehicle.Yeah, exactly right. Yeah, but
at home, like I said,I got a big giant deadpool at home
that I haven't opened up. Yeah, this stuff that that connects to my
childhood. Yeah, you know,you know, if I if I hadn't
bought this. And I was justtalking about this on my other podcast from
(14:18):
a Pal Dave, it's called Hangingwith Homie. Somebody sent in a question
which we answered yours on there too, by the way, yep. And
they asked me, they go Jr. What item or items was it that
got you back into collecting figures asan adult? And it was this three
pack, this raw thirtieth anniversary threepack with Razor one two three, Kid
(14:41):
and the Undertaker Nice and it's gotthe big r aw behind it and you
can pop up the letters and itwent from those three suddenly I have nearly
a hundred nice. It's like it'sI'm already waist deep in it. But
I'll tell you, man, I'venever felt more like my self. I've
never been happier. Yeah, youknow. Could I be more responsible with
(15:05):
my money, sure, but everybodycan. I don't have kids, I
don't have a mortgage. You know, Eventually I hope to have these days.
But as as of right now,it's like, does that make me
feel good and happy? Yes,I'm gonna do it. Does that make
me feel bad? And I'm notgonna do that. So no, that's
what it's all about, man like, like recently, like, it's all
(15:28):
about your happiness. Man, It'swhat makes you happy. How when you
wake up in the morning, yougotta happy happy Like that's what's most important.
Yeah, like self care and allthat, it's very important, man
Like. It's a beautiful thing.How you can say that, you know,
I feel like myself? Yeah youknow what I'm saying that And that's
why I love being here. It'sa weird thing to say, right,
right, not normal. You normallycan't say that. Man. Either you're
(15:48):
miserable at work or you're stuck intraffic miserable. But when you come here,
like I said, you pick upa toy and it just it brings
life back into you. Yeah.You could be at work kind of just
checking off each box just to getby and just to get to the end
of the day, lost in thesauce. Yeah, or you could kind
of just choose enjoyment and kind ofchoose what type of mindset you're gonna have.
(16:11):
And of course that's a lot easiersaid than done. I mean,
so many people think that, Wow, like your job is so cool,
and you get to this and youget to that, Jr. And then
I come here and I'm like,I'm making eye contact with you, but
I can't say. I can't helpbut look around and around. I'm like,
we get an ultimate edition John Cina, we got a macho man,
we got like you know, wegot there's just so much cool stuff in
(16:33):
here. Ah. Man, I'mjust I think I think your job is
hella cool. Seeing that's that's awesome. How you say that, man,
because like I said, it's nuts. How you how you could say,
like I said, I think yourjob's amazing and cool and everything, and
then it's vice versa with me.You know what I'm saying. But like
I said, within within everything andeverything has it's pros and cons. But
do you know what I'm saying?What do you think? With that said?
(16:55):
What do you think has been thebiggest challenge for you? Because you
know, as much as we wantto see here and pretend like it's all
sunshine and smiles and rainbows and stuff, it's it's probably not all the time.
What's been the biggest challenge just theday to day grind? Man?
Well, I guess to be yourown boss. Yeah, because like I
said, you can't. I can'tgo to nobody and complain. I can't
go to nobody and say, hey, I need a vacation day or I
need a raise. I have togo to the mirror and do that,
(17:18):
man. And that type of disciplineis very hard. And I guess that's
like one of the biggest struggles man, because like I said, I could
sleep in. I have the abilityto sleep in now, and but but
I don't feel right doing that,right, you know what I'm saying.
And I know that I can't dothat because there's so much writing here.
You know what I'm saying. Ihave to bring this place to life every
day, you know. But Yeah, I guess that's one of the biggest
(17:41):
challenges, man, is just beingyour own boss and being disciplined about your
time. Right, Because when you'reyour own boss, your success is because
of you, but your failures areas well. Exactly exactly. You don't
have anyone to point the proverbial fingerat exactly right, except for the guy
in the mirror. Yeah, man, what it's fun man? Like I
said, I wanted. That's onething is I wouldn't trade it for I
(18:03):
want to change it or trade itfor anything. Yeah. I love what
I do. Like I said,that's that's just me. I love to
wake up and be doing something insteadof just kicking back. Yeah, because
I feel like I did that forthirteen years. I said, I had
a nine to five. I camehome Hardt style. Yeah, still toe
boots the last day Um that Iwas working there. Um. One of
my buddies there that I got realclose to for about you. I knew
(18:26):
him for about two and a halfyears Um. He was a how do
you say a manager? Okay,he committed suicide. Oh no, so
like I I want to say Iretired, but or quit, like two
weeks after that man and the park, the park where it happened at UM,
I went there with my other buddy, which passed away a year after
(18:48):
UM, and I threw my Stieteboots in the trash Canada and that was
like the end of the whole constructionthing. I was like, I'm never
gonna go back to working at nineto five, you know, I'm gonna
be an entrepreneur or yeah, youknow, but it's it's I wouldn't trade
it for nothing. It's amazing,it's fun and the I'm real sorry to
hear about it, and it's neverbeen more accessible to kind of you know.
(19:12):
Back in the day, they wouldcall it self employed, I guess,
you know, owner, but nowit's the word is entrepreneur. And
there's so many tools and there's solike technologies come so far. Yeah.
No, that's the reason. That'sone of the reasons I'm where I'm at
right now is because of technology.Yeah, Like I see a lot of
people on social media bashing social media. But I am where I am because
(19:37):
of social media. Same Like Isaid, I wanted to have the outlet
to show everybody the awesome pictures ofall the awesome toys that we get in
daily. Right. If dude,if I didn't have to use social media
for work, I would throw myphone in the goddamn motion exactly right.
You know. But I'll tell youit's all these different you know, vlogs
and TikTok's and videos and interviews andstuff that I've done, and I've always
(19:59):
looked at the it was this kindof like a means to an end where
it's like, Okay, this isgoing to help me get to this level,
and then you know, these thingsare going to help me get to
this next level, and uh yeah, social media has just kind of been
one of those necessary evils exactly exactly. I want to talk a little bit
about your your pop swaps you're doing. Yeah, yeah, so we um
during the summertimes here at out theBox, we do pop swaps, and
(20:22):
so what we do is we havelike fifteen tables set up outside of the
store, yeah, and different vendorsof different collections, like you could sell
whatever as long as it's toy relatedpops. Yeah, not just pops or
Pokemon cards or anything. But wehave about fifteen tables set up outside you
come through, rented out for theday for twenty five bucks, and it's
just kind of like flea market style. Wow. So people can kind of
(20:45):
come in, get their own tableand just they can sell or they can
trade or majority you know, kindof both yep, a little bit of
both. Um. And we havedifferent food vendors come through. Um.
It's amazing man. The last onethat we had was actually one of our
busiest days. We served I wantto say, close to one hundred and
five customers and that was just withinthe store. I can that's not even
including the sales that happened outside.Wow. But it's amazing man. It's
(21:08):
awesome to see all the people comethrough. Like I said, that's one
thing like that wakes me up inthe morning, is like I need to
be there because look how many peoplecome and check out the shop. Yeah,
and think of how many different friendsyou've made of just you know,
people that came in. Like dude, I literally was just on Google trying
to find like wwe toy shops inand around the Denver area. And I
(21:33):
can't remember who it was, butsomeone's like, oh, you need to
go to out the Box and Iwas like, golly, that's like thirty
five minutes away from home. ButI'm glad I did, or we wouldn't
be sitting here today. You getto meet so many people and become,
you know, friendly with people,and you have the same interest and you
know, obviously it's you know,owner customer, but you know, I
(21:55):
think, and that's one thing that'scrazy about about doing this, man,
because like I said, I've I'veonly been doing it for about three years
of being my own boss, beingan entrepreneur. But there was times where
I felt like I shouldn't do that, Like I shouldn't connect with customers because
they're customers, you know what I'msaying. But then but then, like
I said, I'm not that typeof person, and I love to like
(22:17):
sit build new relationships. Man,Like, look look at what we're doing
right now. We're taking over theworld right now, you know what I'm
said. But they're, like Isaid, you just can't get lost in
the sauce, man, Like Isaid, you can't be you. You
can't always have your guard up justbecause like the background that I come from.
You have to have your guard up. You're always getting burned by people.
You know, people are just thereto use you in a certain sense.
And then that that's how I feelfeel sometimes when people come to sell
(22:41):
me stuff, I'm like that,you know. But but like I said,
I'm not that type of person.Yeah, you know, I love
to make relationships. I love Onething that I've always always said is I
love to bring inspiration and motivation toother people. Like I don't want to
say, oh, well, becomerich and get money and do that.
No, inspire other people to doto do what you're doing ten times better.
(23:02):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying, because that's the type of legacy
that I want to leave behind,you know what I'm saying, not not
some big bank account. Right,did you got be ready to run through
a wall? Right now? Allright? Right? Hell yeah. So
it's been about three years. Hesaid, where do you Where do you
kind of see yourself and the shopin the next three years? Oh?
Like it's always it's always in ourmind. We want a bigger location.
Yeah, just okay, so thatwould be that would be good. But
(23:26):
just doing the same thing we're doing. Yeah, just grinding away, hustling.
Um, I have full time ontattooed on my face. And that's
like my own personal brand is fulltime hustle. Like you gotta do it
full time baby. You know we'rewriting in a word absolutely, man,
Yeah, you gotta be all inor don't even bother, right, Yeah,
that's like when I quit my job, man, it felt like jumping
off a mountain. Yeah. AndI've and I was able to fly,
(23:48):
but like right now, it feelslike the same way. Like I I've
been wanting to do podcasts. I'vebeen wanting to connect with other people and
kind of share my story, rightAnd and I guess that's me breaking past,
like my shyness I guess to sayor whatever. But I'm I'm ready,
man, I'm ready to jump offthe mountain again. Shyness is the
word too, because you know,I always I've always felt like whenever I
(24:12):
get to be on the air orif i'm djang or m seeing a party,
yeah, I always feel like Iget to be a character. I
get to kind of wear a maskexactly. And they're like, how are
you so confident when I'm like,I'm not, I'm just playing a part
right right right, and then likefor me to be in front of a
cameraman. So before before all ofthis, me and my little brothers shout
(24:32):
out to little zeke. Um,we did music together. So I made
music too. Yeah. Yeah,from two thousand and nine till I say
about twenty fifteen, we were heavyin the local music scene. That's kind
of how I met Ernesta really.Yeah, I met I met Ernesto back
in like two thousand and nine,and um, I just heard I heard
(24:55):
him, and then we ended upat his house recording a song in his
basement. I love that. It'snuts, dude. And then then ten
years later we're business partners. Wow, it's nuts. But like that's I
guess, like you get to puton a different mask, right, And
that's how music was for me backin the day. Ye. Like I
I was a really shy person.I really don't talk that much. Yeah,
um, but whence you put amicrophone in my hand or throw me
(25:15):
on stage or put showtime baby,you know it's it's it's awesome, man.
Like I said, I love it, I love it. I love
it. I want to I wantto trade it for nothing. Yeah,
I did that so much, man, So we talked about we talked about
your pop swap, we talked aboutyou know, breaking in, We talked
about your first couple few years,what you're looking forward to next? Um,
(25:38):
any words for the collector community,like any final words for the folks
that would be listening to them,Like what's your It's cool to be you.
It's cool to be you. Likeit's just keep doing you, man,
Like, I know there's people thatcome in here and I don't know
how the word of it, thestigma to them buying toys as an adult,
(26:00):
right, you know what I'm sayingBecause even even when I met my
most recent girlfriend, we've been togetherfour years, she was living in LA
right now. I remember this isback when I was selling excuse me,
when I was collecting my Jack's figuresthat I recently sold to y'all. I
had them all in displaying my closetand I remember finally had her over.
(26:21):
She's like, give me the tour. Ye. I was like, oh
no, this is gonna go oneof two as either she's like cool with
it or she thinks that I'm aloser. And I opened up the closet
and it was like the longest tenseconds. I'm just mating. What is
she going to say? She goes, wow, that's kind of cool.
How you have them all up therelike that nice? Nice? So I
was like, right, were yeah? Yeah? So I mean yeah,
(26:44):
that's the thing. It's like,oh, that's not manly or that's not
cool, Like some people are likereal toxic towards it. But it's like
I choose happiness over trying to pretendright exactly, man, that's what I
love. But there's a dude thatcome out there lunch break man, and
they buy toys. It's amazing.Yeah, it's so cool. Man.
Is that is like is this somethingthat the generation did before us? Do
(27:07):
you think? Or is this likea nineties kids kind of thing? That's
what I That's what I loved.That's what I always say of All the
Box, the ultimate nineties toy store. You know what I'm saying. One
thing that's really crazy is like I'mthirty four years old and thirty six over
here over there. Yeah, solike when I go to other toy stores,
it's owned by older people. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
You go in there and it's likea like like you said, it's like
(27:30):
a comic bookstore in the nineties.Like it's an older guy, you know
what I'm saying. But when youcome in here, you know, I
try to keep it fresh. Ikeep it. I try to make it
like my bedroom in the nineties.Man, you know what I'm saying.
But I don't know. It's crazy, man. Like I said, the
community is amazing. That's one ofthe reasons why we want it to stay
open is just the community was justamazing. The people that came through are
(27:52):
amazing. It's very supportive. Anotherthing too, it could be very toxic.
Yeah, it's nuts because like Pokemonwas a really big thing when we
first opened up, it was likecrazy, man. So people would buy
product from the store and then sellit for triple and the scalpers. Yeah
exactly, and then you would havethat whole conversation. And like I said,
it's very awesome, but at thesame time, it's toxic too.
(28:17):
But like I said, everything hasits pros and cons. I hear that,
man, I hear that. Well. I'm gonna end this on this
note right here. I've made someof my best friends because of toys when
I was a kid. That's amazing. And I'm continuing to do that now
it feels pretty so yeah. Anduh, lastly, my catchphrase cool to
(28:38):
be You, which is the nameof this podcast. Yeah, so in
radio you need to have some sortof sign off. Yeah, right,
and my mentor Rob Steele, hewould always say peace and that was the
coolest thing. He's like, JR. You need to come up with a
you know, sign off. Sorandomly, when I broke into radio in
(28:59):
Portland and I was doing the nightshow Q Nights, at the end of
the show, I started just saying, it's cool to be you and I'll
love it and I'll talk to youtomorrow night. And I've kind of hung
on with that ever since. Andyeah, that's then. Now here we
are today, I'm the Cool toBe You podcast. Who'd have thought but
a man? Anyway, for Anthonyeight tis at out the Box and for
myself JR. Please remember it iscool to be you. And where can
(29:25):
they follow out the Box? Um, so you can follow us on every
platform at out the Box three orthree that's three words out the Box three
zero three and that's on like everysingle platform. Um. We're open seven
days a week. We're located inThorne, Colorado, right off one hundred
and second in Washington, come andsay what's up? Man. And one
thing that I really like want toencourage lately because I used to love to
(29:47):
do it back in the day,is uh, if you guys come in
and you see me, don't beafraid to come and talk to me.
Yeah, because like you guys seeme on the Live, you guys see
me on Facebook, on Instagram andeverything. Like I said, I'm a
normal guy. Manum. That's onething that I wanted to get into do
that we'll get into the next timeis a I got a sixth grade education.
I never I had my first sonwhen I was fourteen. We're barely
(30:08):
scratch scratching the service. But likeI said, I've been wanting to get
that collecting thing off my chest fora while too, because everybody comes in
here things I'm a big collector.I got tons of T shirts. Well
I bet the you know, themost common thing is, oh, you
must have like a massive collection.Yeah, well everybody thinks this is my
personal collection, right yeah? Crazy? But um yeah, man, like
(30:30):
I said, we'll get back intoit. Like I said, it's it's
crazy man. Let me hit himwith my outro. Yeah, go ahead,
please, what a dude? Whatit is? Everybody at your boy
a tis live and direct here atout of the box, come and say
what's up. And remember, baby, we're not here for a long time,
but we are here for a goodtime. Let's go chit all right,
(30:51):
piece out y'all
So first off, let me justsay how cool it feels to be in
here after hours. Oh yeah,yeah, which is really fun. And
it's gonna sound strange, but there'sa specific smell when I walk into out
the box. I don't exactly knowwhat it is, but I'm always like,
I'm here, Yeah, let's findsome toys. That's awesome. Man.
So one thing on that smell topic. So in the morning, before
(00:24):
I open up the doors, Imake sure like I vacuum, yeah,
and then I walk around and Ispray for breeze everywhere, like if a
female was coming over. That's whatI used to do when I was younger.
You know that makes sense. SoI've got to make sure it's cleaning,
it smells good, everything. Yeah. So it's JR here for Cool
to be you the podcast with myboy Anthony A Tis one of the operators
an owner about the box and Thornton, Colorado kind enough to open up your
(00:47):
spot to me after hours, andI'm really curious to kind of learn more
about your story because in passing,I've been in here a few times.
Yeah, and you've told me alittle bit about how you kind of started
here as a volunteer. Yeah,no, no pay, no anything.
How did that come to be?So to kind of start from the beginning,
Um, my mom's boyfriend, hewas working out a day labor and
(01:10):
at that point in time, Iwas selling T shirts on eBay with two
of my best friends and he's like, hey man, there's a shop that
it's like a consignment shop. You'dgo in there and sell your stuff.
So he told me about it.I went over there. Um it was
called the Pop Culture Connection okay,and it was ran by this guy named
Mike. So I went in there. I was like, hey man,
I sell T shirts and UM,he's like, yeah, you can rent
(01:30):
out like a T shirt rack fromme, you know, and just pay
rent monthly and you can sell yourT shirts in here and I get a
percentage. So I did that,and I did it for about a week
or two, and I was goingin there like every other day, and
he's like, hey man, you'rein here all the time. Why don't
you just volunteer and you don't haveto pay rent on your spot? So
I was like, I was like, bet right, you know. And
(01:51):
that's kind of that's kind of howI got into into the toys because,
like I said before, that Iwas just doing T shirts. I'll go
to the thrift store and find usetwo shirts and just tell them moneybay Okay,
yeah, see, because I waswondering if you were always a collector
or if it was like it waslike reselling man, Like okay, Like
I don't know, I don't Icollect T shirts? Yeah, I have
(02:14):
like in my in my closet.I got about two hundred two shirts in
my closet that I don't even wear. But other than that, like the
toys, man, it's not Idon't really collect toys. I guess since
I've been doing this, this isright right getting in deep death like nobody
knows to know. But yeah,man, like I collect what I used
(02:34):
to play with when I was akid. Yeah, that's what I do.
You know what I'm saying. Yeah, But um, so you come
from a background of like designing andscreen printing T shirts? Um known Like
to be honest, man, II my background is um illegal, Like
that's where I got my hustle from. You know what I'm saying. That's
where I got the mentality of doublingup to say, you know what I'm
(02:55):
saying, right, Um, ButI don't know, man, like,
like I said, I love toysand I love being around collectors because it's
a whole different breed of person.Yeah, and it took me kind of
moving here to Denver to learn that, yeah, you know, because I
was like, as a kid,pro wrestling was my life, you know
(03:15):
that and TMNT and it was like, gosh, you know when you moved
from city to city for your career, Yeah, yeah, you're not ever
really there long enough to like,you know, develop real strong you know,
friendships and relationships. And I don'tknow, there was something about coming
(03:36):
here. I met some guy here, went to a couple of different shows
and shops, and then all ofa sudden, it's like I'm a part
of this like Denver Male High collectorscommunity. And I was like, damn,
I kind of feel like I'm apart of something, right, It's
amazing, Right, That's that's oneof the reasons. Like, so,
I guess to get back into howit started, as uh, like I
(03:57):
said, I was volunteering at thatspot. Um I started. I was
there like at least three to fourtimes a week. Yeah, and um
I was working at nine to five. I work construction for about thirteen years.
Okay, Wow, so I wouldgo to work about three o'clock in
the morning, get off of workabout two o'clock in the afternoon, Um,
go straight over there, and thenkick it over there for until about
(04:20):
six or seven. Dang. Butit became such a habit that the owner,
um, like when I would showup, he would walk out,
you know what I'm saying. SoI was there most of the time by
myself and stuff. But it wasfun man, Like I said, like
getting back into the community. Man, the collector's community. It's amazing.
They're they're amazing people, Like it'sreal strong and it's nuts how many people
(04:41):
love toy still, you know whatI'm saying, It's amazing. So how
do you go from you know,volunteering to kind of help with your rent
right to all of a sudden it'slike you and maybe another guy that are
kind Yeah. So um, soI was over there at pop and then
Ernesto he's my business partner. Um, he came through one day. I
(05:01):
guess he's seen because when I wasthere, I would do most of the
social media posting. Okay, soI would blast it on Facebook and Instagram,
and I guess our nest well seenit there and then he came through.
Um he did the same thing Ikind of did. He got a
spot, and then he became avolunteer, and then I want to say
he like a year into it,maybe nine months into it, he opened
(05:25):
up a T shirt shop within thatshop, okay, and then uh,
in what year was this twenty nineteen? So this is pre pandemic. Yeah,
pre pandemic. Wow. And um, so that scenario happened. And
then around January, February and March, um, we got good enough in
there, and he was like,oh, well, let's all become business
partners. You know, you guysare here enough and you know put in
(05:46):
the time. So we got intothat, we signed the contracts and everything,
and then about four weeks later,COVID hit man. So COVID happens.
The shop has to shut down,the world has to shut down,
and it's it's so crazy to eventhink about that. That was like three
years ago. Now. Yeah,it's nothing right now, because when you're
while we were all in it,it seemed like it was lasting forever.
(06:10):
Yeah, no, it felt likeforever. And now that we're out of
it, it's almost like, damn, that felt like it was so long.
Ago. Yeah, and it kindof never It felt like it never
even happened, like the mask andall the madness about it, craziness,
dude. And I know, workingin media, they classified me as a
essential worker. Yeah, I hadto come in every day like this is
bullcrap. Did you get the pieceof paper? No? So at my
(06:33):
job they gave us a piece ofpaper. Off you get pulled over,
just giva or essential worker may havean email or something. I don't I
don't really recall. Now how longwas it into the shutdown before the shop
was kind of facing it's you know, last day. So, like I
want to say, like a likewithin covid Um, the owner, the
(06:56):
previous owner, he came to us, He's like, I'm thrown in the
towel. You know, I'm gonnaclaim bankruptcy and everything. So we kind
of, like it said, itkind of caused a little bit of conflict,
man, because, like I said, we just we weeks before,
we just signed a contract becoming businesspartner, you know, legally becoming business
partners, and now we're shutting down. Yeah, like what And then there
was a point where like, um, me and my wife were going in
(07:18):
there every other night, to poststuff on eBay because that was the only
way we can generate income was oneBay. Yeah, you know, So
we were doing that for a minuteand then, like I said, he
just came to us and he's like, I'm gonna throw in the towel.
And then, uh, that night, I went home and rest All hit
me up and he's like, hey, man, let's just buy him out.
And the spot next to my Tshirt shop, Planet Teas is opening
(07:40):
up because they're shutting down because ofCOVID. Okay, So he hit me
up and I was like, allright, man, let's do it.
So I guess the investment was tenthousand on my part in ten thousand on
his part, and that was theinitial investment. That's what got us all
the cases within the shop and justwhat every inventory the previous owner was willing
to let go. Wow. Sothat happened man, And literally, I
(08:03):
want to say the next day orthe day after that, we got the
keys to the spot and just broughteverything over here within a day or two.
Wow. Yeah, it was nuts. So how soon after that time
frame were you able? So wasthis was this previously called out the box?
No, so you said it wassomething else. It was a Genie
Travel okay, and it's been hereforever because, um, when I was
(08:26):
about five years old, we wentto Disneyland and I remember coming in here
and my mom booking what book?Yeah inside of this, inside of Genie
Travel. That's kind of full circle. That's kind of cool. Yeah,
that's really cool. So how longafter that, with all the restrictions of
the pandemic, were you able tolike, you know, get your keys?
You said, when we're able toopen? So that kind of played
(08:48):
a benefit on us because just becauseeverything was closed down and it gave us
enough time to set up the cabinets, to get to get toys in here.
And the thing too is work consignmentmarketplace. So about forty percent of
what you see is under consigned.We're sell other people's products. What we
do is we rent out the shelvesand month to month. So that Simon's
a new thing for me to likeunderstand because my first time coming in here,
(09:09):
yeah you thought it was a collection. Yeah yeah, but there's like
individual collectors that can showcase and selltheir things. It's all about making the
little guy money, you know whatI'm saying. That's one thing about me
is I don't say I do itfor the money, which I don't know.
I don't like to say that,but um, I love to make
other people money, man like Ilove to help out the other guy because
(09:31):
I wish there was someone like thatto help me out along the way.
You know what I'm saying, right, But I don't know, Like I
said, um so that so theCOVID kind of gave us time to set
everything up. So I say,within about three to four weeks, we're
ready to rock and roll. Bythat time, they were slowly lifting in
the bands and letting play her openup to back up, and we had
to wear masks. We had tomake sure we uh put like six feet
(09:54):
put it. I forgot, Yeah, but yeah, it was quick.
I want to say everything everything transitionfrom one shop to another shop within a
month to a month and a half. Wow. So within about that month
and a half, that six weeksor so, you were able to bring
everything in here, set everything upto develop a new name, logo design.
(10:16):
What's crazy about the logo is inthe in the name is Nestel Carna
already had it cooking before all ofit, because I've seen sketches of the
logo, and I've seen sketches ofthe name and everything before anything even like
happened, you know, So itwas pretty cool to see it actually become
like birth, like become something youknow comes Yeah, dude, So tell
(10:37):
me about kind of that first dayopen in the doors as out the box
like that had to have felt likepretty damn incredible that it was amazing,
Man, it was amazing. Ihad my my like I said, my
brother from another mother here, Kiko. I had my best friend Jacob,
and like I said, it wasit was. It was an awesome time,
man. Like I said, itwas nothing like it And I don't
(11:01):
know, I don't even remember ifwe were busy, if we weren't busy.
It was just it was just fun. Yeah. You know what I'm
saying, is this living in themoment. I guess yeah, I've I've
only worked in the retail space.I've never been like an operator or owner
before. Yeah, so I canonly imagine the kind of effort and work
that goes into like just it's tryingto keep this place up in you know,
(11:24):
moving every day. No this andthat's I guess that's one thing.
Um. The previous owner was hisdownfall man is he didn't have a team.
Yeah, like said me and orNesta were we were his team because
otherwise he was there by himself.And this this what's it is now when
it happened, if it's just oneperson, you know, you have to
have a team, this whole thingby yourself. I couldn't imagine. But
(11:46):
like you said, it's it's nutsdo because I wear construction for thirteen years
and then to jump into retail andthen to be the owner and the boss.
Like I was just talking to tomy homie. Um, it's crazy
because when you have a nine tofive, you can have a life out
side of your job. But whenyou own a business, your business is
your life. And that's Radio isthe same way. Like I can't turn
(12:07):
it off even if I don't athome, exactly, I can't. I'm
always doing social media or cutting endorsementsand spots, or coming after hours to
do things like this, you know, like in the in the whole broadcast
space. It's it's like over time, it's it's become this like this monster
where it's not just your AMFM signal, it's also your podcasting, it's also
(12:31):
your social media. You're blogging,you're filming, like you're everything. So
in my world, I have towear a ton of different hats. In
your world, how many hats areyou wearing on any given day? About
like five to twenty maybe no,But like that, I wake up,
man, and first off, I'ma I'm a I'm a husband, I'm
(12:52):
a father of three children. Wow. Like that's the most important hat that
I want to make sure that Ikeep on and make sure I keep it
nice and tight, you know,right. But other than that, like
I said, I'm the guy thattakes pictures here, I'm the guy that
does a social media posts, youknow, the videos, the reels,
um running the front desk, youknow. Like I said, you got
(13:13):
to wear tons and tons of hats, man, yea. And you have
to be built different, Like Isaid, that's one thing is you have
to be you have to be obsessedwith your work. Yeah, otherwise you're
gonna fail. You got to bewilling to like hang around for two hours
after close nerd to show up.And then that's that's how it was in
the beginning. Like I say,when I was volunteering, man, I
(13:33):
was there for four hours and nobodywould walk through that door, but I
was still there, you know whatI'm saying. And I had kids at
home, and I could have beenat home with them, and but I
wanted to learn the process and Ijust wanted to be there, you know.
So you told me when we startedtalking that you were never really a
collector yourself. Yeah, have youlike slowly started to dabble a certain kind
of different things. All my wife, Maunt, she has a crazy funkle
(13:56):
collection. I can't say, likeit's worth anywhere from twenty five to twenty
seven thousand dollars buy a vehicle.Yeah, exactly right. Yeah, but
at home, like I said,I got a big giant deadpool at home
that I haven't opened up. Yeah, this stuff that that connects to my
childhood. Yeah, you know,you know, if I if I hadn't
bought this. And I was justtalking about this on my other podcast from
(14:18):
a Pal Dave, it's called Hangingwith Homie. Somebody sent in a question
which we answered yours on there too, by the way, yep. And
they asked me, they go Jr. What item or items was it that
got you back into collecting figures asan adult? And it was this three
pack, this raw thirtieth anniversary threepack with Razor one two three, Kid
(14:41):
and the Undertaker Nice and it's gotthe big r aw behind it and you
can pop up the letters and itwent from those three suddenly I have nearly
a hundred nice. It's like it'sI'm already waist deep in it. But
I'll tell you, man, I'venever felt more like my self. I've
never been happier. Yeah, youknow. Could I be more responsible with
(15:05):
my money, sure, but everybodycan. I don't have kids, I
don't have a mortgage. You know, Eventually I hope to have these days.
But as as of right now,it's like, does that make me
feel good and happy? Yes,I'm gonna do it. Does that make
me feel bad? And I'm notgonna do that. So no, that's
what it's all about, man like, like recently, like, it's all
(15:28):
about your happiness. Man, It'swhat makes you happy. How when you
wake up in the morning, yougotta happy happy Like that's what's most important.
Yeah, like self care and allthat, it's very important, man
Like. It's a beautiful thing.How you can say that, you know,
I feel like myself? Yeah youknow what I'm saying that And that's
why I love being here. It'sa weird thing to say, right,
right, not normal. You normallycan't say that. Man. Either you're
(15:48):
miserable at work or you're stuck intraffic miserable. But when you come here,
like I said, you pick upa toy and it just it brings
life back into you. Yeah.You could be at work kind of just
checking off each box just to getby and just to get to the end
of the day, lost in thesauce. Yeah, or you could kind
of just choose enjoyment and kind ofchoose what type of mindset you're gonna have.
(16:11):
And of course that's a lot easiersaid than done. I mean,
so many people think that, Wow, like your job is so cool,
and you get to this and youget to that, Jr. And then
I come here and I'm like,I'm making eye contact with you, but
I can't say. I can't helpbut look around and around. I'm like,
we get an ultimate edition John Cina, we got a macho man,
we got like you know, wegot there's just so much cool stuff in
(16:33):
here. Ah. Man, I'mjust I think I think your job is
hella cool. Seeing that's that's awesome. How you say that, man,
because like I said, it's nuts. How you how you could say,
like I said, I think yourjob's amazing and cool and everything, and
then it's vice versa with me.You know what I'm saying. But like
I said, within within everything andeverything has it's pros and cons. But
do you know what I'm saying?What do you think? With that said?
(16:55):
What do you think has been thebiggest challenge for you? Because you
know, as much as we wantto see here and pretend like it's all
sunshine and smiles and rainbows and stuff, it's it's probably not all the time.
What's been the biggest challenge just theday to day grind? Man?
Well, I guess to be yourown boss. Yeah, because like I
said, you can't. I can'tgo to nobody and complain. I can't
go to nobody and say, hey, I need a vacation day or I
need a raise. I have togo to the mirror and do that,
(17:18):
man. And that type of disciplineis very hard. And I guess that's
like one of the biggest struggles man, because like I said, I could
sleep in. I have the abilityto sleep in now, and but but
I don't feel right doing that,right, you know what I'm saying.
And I know that I can't dothat because there's so much writing here.
You know what I'm saying. Ihave to bring this place to life every
day, you know. But Yeah, I guess that's one of the biggest
(17:41):
challenges, man, is just beingyour own boss and being disciplined about your
time. Right, Because when you'reyour own boss, your success is because
of you, but your failures areas well. Exactly exactly. You don't
have anyone to point the proverbial fingerat exactly right, except for the guy
in the mirror. Yeah, man, what it's fun man? Like I
said, I wanted. That's onething is I wouldn't trade it for I
(18:03):
want to change it or trade itfor anything. Yeah. I love what
I do. Like I said,that's that's just me. I love to
wake up and be doing something insteadof just kicking back. Yeah, because
I feel like I did that forthirteen years. I said, I had
a nine to five. I camehome Hardt style. Yeah, still toe
boots the last day Um that Iwas working there. Um. One of
my buddies there that I got realclose to for about you. I knew
(18:26):
him for about two and a halfyears Um. He was a how do
you say a manager? Okay,he committed suicide. Oh no, so
like I I want to say Iretired, but or quit, like two
weeks after that man and the park, the park where it happened at UM,
I went there with my other buddy, which passed away a year after
(18:48):
UM, and I threw my Stieteboots in the trash Canada and that was
like the end of the whole constructionthing. I was like, I'm never
gonna go back to working at nineto five, you know, I'm gonna
be an entrepreneur or yeah, youknow, but it's it's I wouldn't trade
it for nothing. It's amazing,it's fun and the I'm real sorry to
hear about it, and it's neverbeen more accessible to kind of you know.
(19:12):
Back in the day, they wouldcall it self employed, I guess,
you know, owner, but nowit's the word is entrepreneur. And
there's so many tools and there's solike technologies come so far. Yeah.
No, that's the reason. That'sone of the reasons I'm where I'm at
right now is because of technology.Yeah, Like I see a lot of
people on social media bashing social media. But I am where I am because
(19:37):
of social media. Same Like Isaid, I wanted to have the outlet
to show everybody the awesome pictures ofall the awesome toys that we get in
daily. Right. If dude,if I didn't have to use social media
for work, I would throw myphone in the goddamn motion exactly right.
You know. But I'll tell youit's all these different you know, vlogs
and TikTok's and videos and interviews andstuff that I've done, and I've always
(19:59):
looked at the it was this kindof like a means to an end where
it's like, Okay, this isgoing to help me get to this level,
and then you know, these thingsare going to help me get to
this next level, and uh yeah, social media has just kind of been
one of those necessary evils exactly exactly. I want to talk a little bit
about your your pop swaps you're doing. Yeah, yeah, so we um
during the summertimes here at out theBox, we do pop swaps, and
(20:22):
so what we do is we havelike fifteen tables set up outside of the
store, yeah, and different vendorsof different collections, like you could sell
whatever as long as it's toy relatedpops. Yeah, not just pops or
Pokemon cards or anything. But wehave about fifteen tables set up outside you
come through, rented out for theday for twenty five bucks, and it's
just kind of like flea market style. Wow. So people can kind of
(20:45):
come in, get their own tableand just they can sell or they can
trade or majority you know, kindof both yep, a little bit of
both. Um. And we havedifferent food vendors come through. Um.
It's amazing man. The last onethat we had was actually one of our
busiest days. We served I wantto say, close to one hundred and
five customers and that was just withinthe store. I can that's not even
including the sales that happened outside.Wow. But it's amazing man. It's
(21:08):
awesome to see all the people comethrough. Like I said, that's one
thing like that wakes me up inthe morning, is like I need to
be there because look how many peoplecome and check out the shop. Yeah,
and think of how many different friendsyou've made of just you know,
people that came in. Like dude, I literally was just on Google trying
to find like wwe toy shops inand around the Denver area. And I
(21:33):
can't remember who it was, butsomeone's like, oh, you need to
go to out the Box and Iwas like, golly, that's like thirty
five minutes away from home. ButI'm glad I did, or we wouldn't
be sitting here today. You getto meet so many people and become,
you know, friendly with people,and you have the same interest and you
know, obviously it's you know,owner customer, but you know, I
(21:55):
think, and that's one thing that'scrazy about about doing this, man,
because like I said, I've I'veonly been doing it for about three years
of being my own boss, beingan entrepreneur. But there was times where
I felt like I shouldn't do that, Like I shouldn't connect with customers because
they're customers, you know what I'msaying. But then but then, like
I said, I'm not that typeof person, and I love to like
(22:17):
sit build new relationships. Man,Like, look look at what we're doing
right now. We're taking over theworld right now, you know what I'm
said. But they're, like Isaid, you just can't get lost in
the sauce, man, Like Isaid, you can't be you. You
can't always have your guard up justbecause like the background that I come from.
You have to have your guard up. You're always getting burned by people.
You know, people are just thereto use you in a certain sense.
And then that that's how I feelfeel sometimes when people come to sell
(22:41):
me stuff, I'm like that,you know. But but like I said,
I'm not that type of person.Yeah, you know, I love
to make relationships. I love Onething that I've always always said is I
love to bring inspiration and motivation toother people. Like I don't want to
say, oh, well, becomerich and get money and do that.
No, inspire other people to doto do what you're doing ten times better.
(23:02):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying, because that's the type of legacy
that I want to leave behind,you know what I'm saying, not not
some big bank account. Right,did you got be ready to run through
a wall? Right now? Allright? Right? Hell yeah. So
it's been about three years. Hesaid, where do you Where do you
kind of see yourself and the shopin the next three years? Oh?
Like it's always it's always in ourmind. We want a bigger location.
Yeah, just okay, so thatwould be that would be good. But
(23:26):
just doing the same thing we're doing. Yeah, just grinding away, hustling.
Um, I have full time ontattooed on my face. And that's
like my own personal brand is fulltime hustle. Like you gotta do it
full time baby. You know we'rewriting in a word absolutely, man,
Yeah, you gotta be all inor don't even bother, right, Yeah,
that's like when I quit my job, man, it felt like jumping
off a mountain. Yeah. AndI've and I was able to fly,
(23:48):
but like right now, it feelslike the same way. Like I I've
been wanting to do podcasts. I'vebeen wanting to connect with other people and
kind of share my story, rightAnd and I guess that's me breaking past,
like my shyness I guess to sayor whatever. But I'm I'm ready,
man, I'm ready to jump offthe mountain again. Shyness is the
word too, because you know,I always I've always felt like whenever I
(24:12):
get to be on the air orif i'm djang or m seeing a party,
yeah, I always feel like Iget to be a character. I
get to kind of wear a maskexactly. And they're like, how are
you so confident when I'm like,I'm not, I'm just playing a part
right right right, and then likefor me to be in front of a
cameraman. So before before all ofthis, me and my little brothers shout
(24:32):
out to little zeke. Um,we did music together. So I made
music too. Yeah. Yeah,from two thousand and nine till I say
about twenty fifteen, we were heavyin the local music scene. That's kind
of how I met Ernesta really.Yeah, I met I met Ernesto back
in like two thousand and nine,and um, I just heard I heard
(24:55):
him, and then we ended upat his house recording a song in his
basement. I love that. It'snuts, dude. And then then ten
years later we're business partners. Wow, it's nuts. But like that's I
guess, like you get to puton a different mask, right, And
that's how music was for me backin the day. Ye. Like I
I was a really shy person.I really don't talk that much. Yeah,
um, but whence you put amicrophone in my hand or throw me
(25:15):
on stage or put showtime baby,you know it's it's it's awesome, man.
Like I said, I love it, I love it. I love
it. I want to I wantto trade it for nothing. Yeah,
I did that so much, man, So we talked about we talked about
your pop swap, we talked aboutyou know, breaking in, We talked
about your first couple few years,what you're looking forward to next? Um,
(25:38):
any words for the collector community,like any final words for the folks
that would be listening to them,Like what's your It's cool to be you.
It's cool to be you. Likeit's just keep doing you, man,
Like, I know there's people thatcome in here and I don't know
how the word of it, thestigma to them buying toys as an adult,
(26:00):
right, you know what I'm sayingBecause even even when I met my
most recent girlfriend, we've been togetherfour years, she was living in LA
right now. I remember this isback when I was selling excuse me,
when I was collecting my Jack's figuresthat I recently sold to y'all. I
had them all in displaying my closetand I remember finally had her over.
(26:21):
She's like, give me the tour. Ye. I was like, oh
no, this is gonna go oneof two as either she's like cool with
it or she thinks that I'm aloser. And I opened up the closet
and it was like the longest tenseconds. I'm just mating. What is
she going to say? She goes, wow, that's kind of cool.
How you have them all up therelike that nice? Nice? So I
was like, right, were yeah? Yeah? So I mean yeah,
(26:44):
that's the thing. It's like,oh, that's not manly or that's not
cool, Like some people are likereal toxic towards it. But it's like
I choose happiness over trying to pretendright exactly, man, that's what I
love. But there's a dude thatcome out there lunch break man, and
they buy toys. It's amazing.Yeah, it's so cool. Man.
Is that is like is this somethingthat the generation did before us? Do
(27:07):
you think? Or is this likea nineties kids kind of thing? That's
what I That's what I loved.That's what I always say of All the
Box, the ultimate nineties toy store. You know what I'm saying. One
thing that's really crazy is like I'mthirty four years old and thirty six over
here over there. Yeah, solike when I go to other toy stores,
it's owned by older people. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
You go in there and it's likea like like you said, it's like
(27:30):
a comic bookstore in the nineties.Like it's an older guy, you know
what I'm saying. But when youcome in here, you know, I
try to keep it fresh. Ikeep it. I try to make it
like my bedroom in the nineties.Man, you know what I'm saying.
But I don't know. It's crazy, man. Like I said, the
community is amazing. That's one ofthe reasons why we want it to stay
open is just the community was justamazing. The people that came through are
(27:52):
amazing. It's very supportive. Anotherthing too, it could be very toxic.
Yeah, it's nuts because like Pokemonwas a really big thing when we
first opened up, it was likecrazy, man. So people would buy
product from the store and then sellit for triple and the scalpers. Yeah
exactly, and then you would havethat whole conversation. And like I said,
it's very awesome, but at thesame time, it's toxic too.
(28:17):
But like I said, everything hasits pros and cons. I hear that,
man, I hear that. Well. I'm gonna end this on this
note right here. I've made someof my best friends because of toys when
I was a kid. That's amazing. And I'm continuing to do that now
it feels pretty so yeah. Anduh, lastly, my catchphrase cool to
(28:38):
be You, which is the nameof this podcast. Yeah, so in
radio you need to have some sortof sign off. Yeah, right,
and my mentor Rob Steele, hewould always say peace and that was the
coolest thing. He's like, JR. You need to come up with a
you know, sign off. Sorandomly, when I broke into radio in
(28:59):
Portland and I was doing the nightshow Q Nights, at the end of
the show, I started just saying, it's cool to be you and I'll
love it and I'll talk to youtomorrow night. And I've kind of hung
on with that ever since. Andyeah, that's then. Now here we
are today, I'm the Cool toBe You podcast. Who'd have thought but
a man? Anyway, for Anthonyeight tis at out the Box and for
myself JR. Please remember it iscool to be you. And where can
(29:25):
they follow out the Box? Um, so you can follow us on every
platform at out the Box three orthree that's three words out the Box three
zero three and that's on like everysingle platform. Um. We're open seven
days a week. We're located inThorne, Colorado, right off one hundred
and second in Washington, come andsay what's up? Man. And one
thing that I really like want toencourage lately because I used to love to
(29:47):
do it back in the day,is uh, if you guys come in
and you see me, don't beafraid to come and talk to me.
Yeah, because like you guys seeme on the Live, you guys see
me on Facebook, on Instagram andeverything. Like I said, I'm a
normal guy. Manum. That's onething that I wanted to get into do
that we'll get into the next timeis a I got a sixth grade education.
I never I had my first sonwhen I was fourteen. We're barely
(30:08):
scratch scratching the service. But likeI said, I've been wanting to get
that collecting thing off my chest fora while too, because everybody comes in
here things I'm a big collector.I got tons of T shirts. Well
I bet the you know, themost common thing is, oh, you
must have like a massive collection.Yeah, well everybody thinks this is my
personal collection, right yeah? Crazy? But um yeah, man, like
(30:30):
I said, we'll get back intoit. Like I said, it's it's
crazy man. Let me hit himwith my outro. Yeah, go ahead,
please, what a dude? Whatit is? Everybody at your boy
a tis live and direct here atout of the box, come and say
what's up. And remember, baby, we're not here for a long time,
but we are here for a goodtime. Let's go chit all right,
(30:51):
piece out y'all
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