5 years ago Elijah (21) learned to make shoes via YouTube, now popular entrepreneur is starting his own store: « I want to do something crazy » (Ghent)
He learned to make sneakers himself via YouTube and built a turnover of one million euros with his clothing brand purely with online sale. Now Elijah Buchan (21) is starting his first real store in the city center of Ghent. « Of course we do a few stunts for the first few days. »
Yesterday at 4:08 PM
While everyone was at home during the Coronapandemie, Elijah Buchan from Ghent Kleden started to make with his mother’s sewing machine. Everything he had to know, he learned from books and YouTube. With his clothing brand, he became extremely popular with young people and built up a turnover of one million euros.
It was striking that he did that with Puur Onlineverkoop. He already opened a pop-up a few years ago, but this week he announced on social media to a first real one Buchan Store to open. This in the building on the corner of Walpoortstraat and the Ketelvest, where a few years ago was a Panos location. (Read more under the photo)
Elijah Buchan. – © Maarten The Construction
« Many entrepreneurs go from offline sales to online, but I already had the latter (laughs), so I do the opposite step. But I often got the question if they could come to my store. And a physical store also brings a nice experience, you have more feeling with the brand and it also offers the chance to host events. So this is a logical step.”
The choice for the building in Walpoortstraat is striking. Elijah absolutely wanted to open his store in that street, but the building was not even on the market at first. « It had a legendary status for me because it has been empty for a long time. I went to visit the owner for a long time and now we stay there for at least a year. Possibly longer, but that can still be viewed. »
In the meantime, there are plenty of renovation works in the building. Elijah hopes to be able to open the doors at the beginning of June, but an exact opening date will follow later. « I want to make something special from the opening weekend and of course we do some stunts (laughs) for the first few days. I want to do something crazy, but more about that later. »
More information via Instagram or via the website: www.buchan-official.com
