The Sock Drawer owner Brooke English in her shop on Higuera Street in downtown San Luis Obispo, California
After 12 successful years in downtown San Luis Obispo, beloved local retailer The Sock Drawer is celebrating its birthday on Friday, June 14th. The business has a variety of promotions planned for the occasion, both in its downtown shop and its online store at sockdrawer.com.
At the small shop at 852 Higuera Street, customers will be given a chance to win discounts and free pairs of fun novelty socks with every purchase from June 14-17. Online shoppers will also receive free socks with purchases of $25 or more, and special birthday contests will happen on The Sock Drawer’s social media pages.
The downtown shop was opened in 2007 by owner Brooke English, a SLO County native with a background in shoe retail. She said it didn’t take long before it was clear the shop would be a success.
“I have loved being a part of the downtown community in SLO,” English said. “People fell in love with our products right away, and I fell in love with the customers. It’s just such a wonderful, family feel downtown, and making those connections has been so important to me both for my business and personally.”
In 2011, she took her business online, as well, and found it thrived.
“The shop did so well from the start with lots of customers becoming regulars who would pop in for gifts or just to visit, plus lots of people from out of town,” she said. “We didn’t know how it would go online, but it turns out people all over the world wanted in on our big happy sock family.”
While running the downtown shop, which is filled with hundreds of different colorful sock styles, English also opened a warehouse space for fulfilling online orders. The company now employs dozens, including seasonal workers during the busy holiday shopping push, and The Sock Drawer has shipped tens of thousands of pairs all over the world.
“Fun socks are all about adding a little moment of joy to your day, and who doesn’t love that? I think that’s why we’ve been so successful for 12 years,” English said. “Part of me can’t believe it’s been that long, but the time has also flown by in a way because of how fun this place is. We invite everyone to come celebrate our birthday with the sock fairies and find yourself some new socks you love!”
About the Sock Drawer
The Sock Drawer is a popular seller of fun, colorful novelty socks in downtown San Luis Obispo, California, and online at sockdrawer.com. The business has thrived since 2007 and is known for its hand-picked selection of hundreds of patterns and styles for women, men and kids.