gravitypope

Gravity Pope was founded in 1990 in Edmonton,Alberta,Canada. Prior to owning Gravity Pope, Louise Dirks worked retail for many years and then studied clothing and textiles at the University of Alberta. She has always been extremely interested in fashion and modern style. After University, she co-owned an import shop. She and her partner traveled the world to find unique artisan goods. They traveled to India, Thailand, Nepal, Turkey, Morocco, Guatemala, and Mexico on a regular basis, buying beautiful hand made products. In the process, they purchased a line of boots from Czechoslovakia called Monkey Boots. The distributor for Monkey Boots also sold Dr. Martens. Louise Dirks and her partner brought in a few pairs to their import shop and were surprised how quickly they sold. Soon there became a growing section of Dr. Martens merchandised amidst embroidered Indian cashmeres, Turkish kilims, and Guatemalan Ikats. The import shop out grew the small space and in 1990, Gravity Pope was born. Originally, Gravity Pope sold only footwear and a small area in the back was subleased to a friend who opened a coffee bar. In later years this space flourished into a clothing section filled with unique fashion brands. In 1992, due to increased workload and traveling and buying for both the import shop and Gravity Pope, the partnership ceased and Louise became the sole owner of Gravity Pope. In a city known mostly for the world's largest shopping mall, West Edmonton Mall, Gravity Pope remained a popular and successful streetside store on Edmonton's Whyte Avenue, eventually becoming a leader and an example for business on the popular shopping and entertainment strip. Through the nineties, Louise Dirks and Gravity Pope provided much of western Canada with fashionable footwear. From grunge Dr. Martens to raver style platform shoes, Gravity Pope built a reputation for keeping up with and keeping ahead of fashion trends. Striving to be a fashion leader, but also a resource for well built, hand-crafted shoes; Dirks worked to import quality shoes that reflected traditional shoe making techniques to compliment trendier styles. Gravity Pope Edmonton - Opened July 1990 Gravity Pope Edmonton - Opened July 1990 Building upon Gravity Pope's growing reputation a second Gravity Pope location was opened in in June 2000, in Calgary,Alberta on the popular 17th Avenue, known for trendy shopping and entertainment. The opening of the second Gravity Pope appeased the numerous shoe fans in Calgary who were willing to make the three-hour drive on Alberta provincial highway 2 to find great footwear. Demands for more stores throughout Canada brought about the opening of a third store. In April, 2004, a Gravity Pope location was added in Vancouver, British Columbia, in beautiful Kitsilano. Gravity Pope is popular with customers from all parts of Canada, with demands for stores in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Saskatchewan, and even Nunavut. Plans for growth continue, in the meantime Gravity Pope offers an extensive website http://www.gravitypope.com/ that showcases the selection of over 3000 footwear and clothing items. In May 2006, Gravity Pope moved their head office and warehouse facility to a larger location where 8 full time employees work in shipping, receiving, web sales and maintenance, and administration. Presently, Gravity Pope has a total of 80 employees and operates 3 stores.