An Exclusive Interview with F AS IN FRANK Owner Drew Heifetz

 

F as in Frank is a vintage clothing store in Vancouver’s eclectic shopping distract of Main Street. Run by siblings Jesse and Drew Heifetz, the brothers opened their first store in Whistler in 2007, and soon expanded to their flagship location in Vancouver.

Marlon and I frequent the store often, setting up camp around the men’s outer wear section, spending the better half of an afternoon taking turns trying on F as in Frank’s well curated selection of vintage duffle coats, leather jackets, shoes, sweaters, t shirts and dresses (we don’t share the dresses that often).

For this reason I was more than a little bit excited when I had the chance to interview the stores co-owner Drew Heifetz earlier this week. Drew spoke to me in depth about the evolution of his business, and shared his thoughts and opinions on the vintage fashion industry, the Vancouver market, and the current and future expansion of F as in Frank. Full interview below >>

 

Drew & Jesse Heifetz

“It’s a treasure hunt every day, once you get the bug it’s hard to stop”

<<     >>

What would you say F as in Frank does?

“We sell vintage fashion. We try to push the boundaries of what’s acceptable, veering away from your typical and average vintage clothing store and going in a more current fashion-based direction – a fresher vintage feel than most places.”

 

I noticed on your website that you guys do wholesale as well for some retailers as far away as Japan. Is that quite a large part of your business, or is it just something extra on the side from your retail store?

“It’s quite a large part of our business. [F as in Frank] is sort of broken down into different sectors. Obviously most people recognise us through the store in Vancouver, but we do wholesale to stores, even in Vancouver. I’m supplying probably at least 50-75% of the other stores in Vancouver with the bulk of their clothing, as well as stores all over America.

Japan is very big on Americana and American culture, so for the more collectable, rare antique pieces we go to Japanese retailers and collectors.

A lot of fashion designers will shop vintage to get inspiration for their new lines coming out, so they’ll look for new inspiration through vintage t shirt graphics, cuts and wear on old denim, things like that.”

 

The business is owned by you and your brother. Could you describe the partnership between you two? Do you each specialize in different aspects of the business, or is it more of a collaboration where you do everything as a team?

“We’ve been working together for years, but he just moved to Vancouver, so it’s been about a year and a half that we’ve been working side by side. It’s kind of an on going thing as the business evolves, where each of us have our strong points and work on different things. We both do everything, but in general Jesse works more on the urban side of things, like the hats and urban street wear. I’m more hands-on with the shop and our picking operation.”

 

Why did you choose to start a business in vintage retail? Your father was a vintage seller, was that what instigated your passion for it as well?

“We grew up around it. My father had a large vintage operation. We were always in the warehouse playing with the clothes and when we got into our teens we worked a bit for him.

In my late teens and twenties I basically snowboarded for ten years, and Jesse was really into producing music as a DJ. Then I guess at some point we kind of got back into it and started really honing in on that Japanese grade – the collectable stuff and really learning about it and studying it. Then it just grew from there as our interest grew and we learned more. It’s a really interesting business – you’re always on the hunt, it’s a treasure hunt every day. Once you get the bug it’s hard to stop.”

The F as in Frank store at 2425 Main Street, Vancouver

What was your education? Did you study small business ownership or was this something you fell into?

“I have no formal education beyond high school. I was a snowboard bum for a lot of years. Once we started the business I basically learned things as I needed them. My brother went to school for music engineering, so he as well has no formal business training. Our father helped us out a lot, but basically it was learning as you go.”

 

How long has F as in Frank been in business?

“Under that name, F as in Frank has been going since early 2007, but we’ve been in the business longer, about 7-8 years. We ran under a few different business names and then we decided at some point we were going to put everything we do under the one father company of F as in Frank.”

 

How many people do you employ? Has the business grown since you started?

“Yeah, we have a large warehouse in South Vancouver which employs four full time staff. I have four full time pickers that pick clothing for us. In the shop there’s another four girls.

We’ve had the warehouse for a year, the website’s only been up for 6 months. We had our simple shop blog, and then it really took a lot of months to get the website organized and finally up. But since it’s been up it’s really helped us expand our business. It’s helped us to reach out to a lot more customers, retail and wholesale. It kind of puts a face to the company online, as opposed to before when we really didn’t have that. It’s helped us a lot to grow in the last 6 months.”

 

You and your brother are from Ontario, you opened the first F as in Frank store in Whistler in 2007. So why did you choose Vancouver as F as in Frank’s flagship location?

“We grew up in Niagara on Lake Ontario. [Opening F as in Frank in Vancouver] was basically a lifestyle decision. We both enjoy the lifestyle out here – the mountains, snowboarding, I like being able to surf, being close to the ocean. Going to somewhere like Toronto is much more metropolitan. Honestly, in the business side of things [Vancouver] is not the best place, it was completely a lifestyle decision, to be in this beautiful part of the world.”

 

Do you have any plans to expand to different parts of Canada or internationally, or are you quite happy to just continue your wholesale portion of the business on that level?

“We’ve discussed opening more shops and expanding outwards. But you walk that fine line nowadays between [deciding if] it is really worth it with what you can do online. Should we concentrate more online or on the brick and mortar store? I think at the moment we’re just trying to grasp what we have grown into, because it is quite large and we’re just figuring it out. That’s not to say you won’t see F as in Frank’s popping up in the distant future.”

 

The F as in Frank store on Main Street has quite a specific style compared to other vintage stores in Vancouver. Does this style reflect you? Or does it reflect what you think will sell successfully in the Vancouver market?

“It has definitely spawned from our personal style and interests. If you look back to when we started in Whistler, we were really bright and fun. Crazy patterns and interesting pieces, and really steered away from your typical 60’s and 70’s fashion that you’re used to in a vintage store. We wanted to bring people our age that stuff that they remember from their childhood. It was kind of a good time for it – fashion basically runs on an 18 year cycle, so it’s good timing that that era is quite popular right now, but it definitely reflects our style.

I’m not out there looking at what’s happening in the fashion world. We’re out there picking, we find cool clothes, and we go with what we like.”

 

You said that you also supply for other stores in Vancouver - but they’re also your competitors as well. How do you separate yourself from them?

“We do have a very different feel than most [vintage stores]. All of my customers have their sort of ‘wish list’ that they’re buying, and in a way it doesn’t really conflict with us because a lot of the time those items aren’t what we’d pick for our store anyway.

As far as competition, I don’t really see it as such. I think a lot of people are going to cruise around lots of stores regardless of if I’m supplying them or not. I think if anything it helps the industry – when there’s a lot of vintage fashion around people are going to be more interested in it, and it just helps the whole industry in general.”

 

What has been your favourite thing about running F as in Frank?

“We’ve had some really fun events, starting with our Whistler store. We had video game contests, like original Sega Genesis one year which was amazing, we had a huge turnout for that. The grand-opening party for our Vancouver store was really fun. I’m planning an art show coming up at the moment – I’m finalizing the artists now. It’s a denim art show. I’ll pick 30-50 different artists and each one will get a denim jacket. They can paint it, cut it, stud it up, rework it, bedazzle it, whatever they want. I’m pretty excited about putting that on.

We get to travel a lot. We’re down in L.A probably 8 times a year, which I love. And all the people involved, the girls in the shop are amazing.”

 

What is the most valuable thing you’ve learned running F as in Frank?

“Don’t work too hard”

<<     >>

All images taken from F as in Frank’s official website.

- Jessica