Conveniently located in the heart of St. Louis’ Midtown community, City Foundry STL offers some of the best eats and the dopest threads you can buy from local merchants.
HUSTL3 C1T4 (pronounced Hustle City), a Black-owned clothing store in conjunction with Sanctioned Sneaker Collective, is a must-stop location.
The apparel business sells brands from local designers including Embleu, Mahemi Carter, Santiano Brand, and Legally Trappin. It opened on 314 Day (March 14, 2021) at the Tech Artista studio at 1040 South Taylor Avenue, then moved and expanded.
HUSTL3 reintroduced itself in November 2021, and co-owner Louis “MC Tres” Erby III says the move was necessary to attract more foot traffic and a more diverse demographic.
“It’s a beautiful thing coming from Tech Artista, where there was no foot space, to [The Foundry] where people from all walks of life stop through,” Erby said.
“Traffic increases gradually day by day.”
The store now also houses various ventures to keep business booming. They include Saturday Sip and Shops from 2 to 6 p.m., which is also where they coined the St. Louis beverage “Vessmosa.” This is any flavor of Vess soda mixed with champagne.
Owners also host a weekly Instagram live series called “Inside the Vault,” that highlights local designers and brands. It also allows them to display the vast sneaker collection. The store also hosts listening parties, vendor pop-up shop events with designers’ featured in the store, and more.
“We want City Foundry STL to be representative of our city, and HUSTL3 C1T4 and Sanctioned are great examples of successful businesses built by local St. Louisans,” said Will Smith, director of New + Found, the development company that oversees City Foundry STL.
“We have worked hard to foster a place where local businesses can grow and develop alongside us, and it’s important to have diversity represented in the businesses here. City Foundry STL is here to elevate the voices of inspired minds who want to share their story with more of the city and beyond.”
Black-owned small businesses have been on the rise with more representation across all industries since 2019. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) study released in February 2022, “Black-owned small businesses in America are growing and thriving.”
Through 2020 and in 2021, the percentage of active Black business owners steadily grew, according to Robert Fairlie, a University of California at Santa Cruz economist. He reports in the NBER study a 33% increase in Black male active business owners from the first quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2021. That marked the highest percentage change among all demographics.
Last year, the Biden Administration introduced its Build Back Better Framework, which aims to create more jobs, encourage more Americans to join the workforce and more funds for college, and more through billions of dollars.
“We need it [the money],” said co-owner Jordan “Reggie Son” Johnson.
“I feel like [Biden’s Administration] should give us the money because we need it to tap into more resources and more accessibility.”
The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis announced in April its plan to build an entrepreneurship center in north St. Louis. The center’s purpose is to implement services to business owners for better allocation of their finances, and teaching on the benefits of utilizing technology for their company’s growth.
Erby said he and other owners would love to become involved with the center, and are also already giving back to the community in their own way by supplying jobs to teens through STL Youth Jobs.
“We employ high school students interested in clothing design and running their own businesses to work at our store a few hours a week,” Erby said. “We want our presence to be felt through youth and want them to know there are other ways and opportunities they can build businesses.”
Awareness is part of the battle, according to co-owner Anthoney “A-Game” Ellis.
“Seeing more success stories is how you get more people to move to St. Louis and stop leaving. [It’s] how you get more people to visit and not fly over us,” he said.
“It takes the people that live in this city to keep supporting [small Black-owned businesses] so that others have an opportunity to build and create something bigger than themselves.”
Johnson called the store “a one-stop shop for everything.”
The design is local, but the reach is worldwide. This is something that’s very much needed for the city and I’m glad that I could do it with my family.
HUSTL3 C1T4 is located at 3700 Forest Park Avenue in St. Louis. The store hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday and Wednesday through Sunday. It is closed on Tuesday. It can be followed on all social media platforms.
