Meet Chris Martin | Founder of House of Nehesi

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Martin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My thought process was simple… I wanted to use my talent to bring the styles that I like to the fashion industry while bringing popular and up and coming brands to the market. I feel disappointed at what I see fashion wise when I walk out the door so I wanted to make the change. I’ve always wanted to be a business owner since being a little boy watching my uncle run his barbershop. Naturally I’ve always had an attraction to fashion. I’ve modeled before and worked with hundreds of brands and I wasn’t satisfied with how they were ran. So after a few career changes and consistently felt being let down I felt that only I could bring my business concept to life. Now House of Nehesi now has 2 locations in Los Angeles, CA. We’re inside a store called Local Source Co-op at Del Amo Fashion Center and Westfield Fashion Square Mall. We’re also planning to open our 3rd location at North San Diego County Mall on November 1st in less than 10 months. I knew the risks but I felt like I had to put my faith in God and things would work out & they have so far thankfully.

What should our readers know about your business?
What sets House of Nehesi apart from other clothing stores is our strategy and the fashion lines that we carry. In less than a year of having our stores open we have relationships with Tom’s, EMU, UGGs, True Religion, PSD, Tom’s, and plenty of more brands. Getting here wasn’t easy at all. We had to make sacrifices in business, risks and establish connections that we’re so grateful to have. These connections would’ve taken years to develop without some luck and being prepared for the opportunities that came. We developed our online store, 3 locations, biweekly/weekly warehouse sales and pop ups in different cities in less than a year. As the owner of House of Nehesi I’ve leaned on my work experience of being the Food & Beverage Manager of Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas where I used to manage 35 businesses at the same time. 20 restaurants and 15 bars that gave me multiple lifetime’s worth of experience that you can only learn by going through it. I’m still currently the youngest American in History to hold that position. House of Nehesi still has plans of expanding to new cities such as New York, Miami, & Las Vegas which would be a dream for us to have a store, our pop ups and warehouse sales.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Great question, if I my bestfriend came to visit for a week we would visit LA, Orange County and San Diego. In LA I would take them to Venice Beach, Santa Monica beach and go to The Bungalow Bar right on the beach. We would also go to a rooftop bar called EP & LP on Melrose. Then we would also find time to go to Good Times at Davey Waynes. Which is an amazing speakeasy type of bar in Hollywood where you enter through a refrigerator to get into the bar. Then we would go to Laguna Beach in Orange County, specifically 1000 steps beach then hang out at a restaurant called Mesa in Costa Mesa. Lastly, I would go to San Diego to visit Mission Beach to finish off the trip and hang out in what I think is the best city for living in the world.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My twin sister has played an amazing part of the journey by listening to my crazy business ideas throughout the years and has been completely supportive in everything that I decided to do. She has been very encouraging. Also my girlfriend has also been here for me since I moved to San Diego and she has been with me throughout the journey of entrepreneurship and has been completely supportive. I couldn’t have done this without their love, support, my girlfriend effort in helping me with my stores and popups since I thought of this business. For privacy I will keep their names private.

Website: https://www.nehesiretail.com

Instagram: @houseofnehesi