A group of young men turn a side gig into a dashing shoe and apparel store in Seaside.

It all started in May of 2020. With time on his hands and the money from the first stimulus check, Kevin Ramos ventured into buying and selling Supreme, a clothing and accessories label focused on the skateboarding lifestyle.

“I was like, ‘I might as well take a risk at it, take a chance,’” Ramos says. “I did, and it flourished from there.”

Ramos used some of the free time to watch YouTube videos about the sales process. That helped motivate him and his cousin, David Cordova, to start their business with a group of like-minded friends and family members.

The Covenant in Seaside is the result – a slick, 2,000-square-foot space on Broadway Avenue. They have a selection of T-shirts, pins, Funko Pop, caps and sneakers that are on flashy shelves. Supreme, Bape and Off-White are some of the apparel brands they carry. They sell collectible sneakers including Jordan’s Retros, YeezySide and Nike Dunk Unions.

The store has a discreet facade: white walls and back-lit silver metal letters, nothing flashy. Inside is a different matter. The walls showcase graffiti art ranging from tags to cartoons and seascapes painted by seven different artists, including Marina-based Jorge Torres. The inventory fluctuates between 500-700 pairs of shoes and their selection is different now than when they started. “We’d have a bunch of lower ends. Now we’re being more selective,” Eber Alberto Ruiz says.

It’s been a rapid and dramatic rise. As a brick and mortar, The Covenant began in a 12-by-20-foot garage with overflow into Ruiz’s room. Before that, it was an online operation only.

The owners are Seaside residents who are part of the Oaxacan diaspora in Monterey County. Some knew each other since childhood or were friends since middle school. Cordova and Edgar Diego are Ramos’ cousins.

Ramos and Cordova started a business selling clothing online, using Facebook Marketplace, Offer Up and eBay. Then, they added sneakers into the mix, peddling them on apparel websites Goat or Stock X. They came from Diego’s sneaker’s collection. When they started selling the shoes, they found there was a greater demand for them.

“That’s when everything kind of just hit it off,” Diego recalls.

Ruiz is also a shoe collector who sold and traded sneakers in order to get new ones for himself. “Everything was personal,” he says. “It was never like, ‘I’m gonna make money off of this.’”

Yet it proved to be a potent business model. Inventory quickly grew from a few pairs to hundreds. Customers were making appointments to visit their garage at all times of the day, even well into nighttime. “We just got too much traffic at home,” Ruiz says.

“I’m pretty sure people wondered what was going on there, so we wanted to be a little more professional,” Diego adds.

Despite the new, bigger permanent place to showcase their merchandise, the vibe has remained the same. Ruiz believes business is all about the connection they have with the customers.

At the beginning, the team made frequent trips to San Francisco to stock up. Trading in new sneakers with vendors operates almost like a drawing. They would wake up early in the morning, sign up and get a number. The process also allowed them to interact with others in the business. Ramos says networking is the number-one rule to make sure a business is successful.

Now, they buy many of their goods from resellers and sneaker collectors.

Prices for used sneakers are set based on appearance. Original packaging is a bonus, boosting the figure. Before making offers, they check going rates on different apps. There are also websites that help verify the authenticity of a desirable pair.

Two years in, Ruiz says everything is getting easier. But it has been a learning experience, from catching fake sneakers to building relationships and growing their stock. Besides buying and trading, the owners also have to keep up with current trends and know what buyers are looking for, from a Jordan 14 to a Yeezy.

THE COVENANT is at 620 Broadway Ave., Seaside. Open daily noon-8pm. 920-1917, instagram.com/_thecovenant.