ANN ARBOR, MI — Drake Johnson may be young, but he’s now the owner of two shoe reseller locations — the latest in Ann Arbor’s Briarwood Mall.

Johnson, 21, opened the second and newest location of Restrikted in the mall in mid-May. The store focuses on buying and selling unworn but preowned sneakers from brands like Air Jordan, Yeezy, Vlone, Anti Social, Kaws, Supreme and Offwhite.

The Briarwood store comes after Johnson’s first store at RiverTown Crossings in Grandville.

Johnson began his entrepreneurial ventures at age 13 when he began cleaning and customizing shoes. At 15, he began buying and reselling collector shoes. In October 2020, he launched Sole Slayer, which he eventually sold to his co-owner and then launched Restrikted the next year.

“I’ve always been a really self-motivated person,” Johnson said.

Restrikted sells shoes at market value, verified either through Johnson or through CheckCheck, an online brand verification service.

Johnson hopes his store can show younger people they don’t have to go to college to be successful, he said, adding that he only did three semesters of college before dropping out to launch Sole Slayer.

Opening his own store was “extremely overwhelming” and learning how to navigate taxes and creating an LLC has inspired him, he said, to eventually start a Youtube channel to walk others through the process.

But the most difficult part of business ownership has been “being satisfied and content with the results we’ve seen,” he said.

“I’m always striving for more and just setting goals even higher than they were, and just realizing we’re doing good, we’re doing OK (has been difficult),” Johnson said.

Johnson credits his success in part to the influence of Chauncy Williams, his Muskegon Middle School sixth-grade teacher, who pushed him to read books about financial literacy and entrepreneurship. Although Johnson had signed up to serve in the U.S. Air Force — “I had a ship out date and everything,” he said — those book discussions with Williams ultimately “really influenced a lot on how my life projected.”

“I feel like that was one of my best decisions I made — not to go — because I would still be there probably for another year now,” Johnson said. “And none of this would be accomplished.”

Johnson hopes to return to school eventually, either studying business or architecture. He said he also has plans to launch a third Restrikted location at Southland Center in Taylor.

His biggest takeaway so far has been “kind of cliché,” he said.

“It’s really just to never give up and to actually follow your dreams,” Johnson said.

Restrikted is open from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Find Restrikted on social media.

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