Michael Jordan Sneakers collection

"Please realize Nike's retail salespersons are not authorized to discuss this choice with you, therefore kindly don't look for to engage all of them by any means regarding the future purchase or return of Nike products, " wrote Nike's then-director of stores, Jon Auerbach.

Geller wasn't a shoplifter or a corporate spy.

The 38-year-old Nob Hill citizen was probably the biggest footwear collector the planet had seen since Imelda Marcos. He's an entry directly into show it, touting their number of 2, 504 pairs of Nikes.

But to amass their collection, he invested eight many years purchasing Nikes from socket stores and reselling them on e-bay. Nike didn't that way.

"I had this concept that i possibly could sell off all of that stock and use the cash to curate society's greatest sneaker collection, " he claims. "i needed to demonstrate Nike whom they would banned."

Shoes weren't the very first thing he obtained. Baseball cards were. It was Garbage Pail Youngsters. Later on, Snapple hats and pencils. But his true love ended up being constantly Nike sneakers.

Through the time he had been in fifth grade, he wanted Air Jordans, nevertheless they were too costly for their household purchasing. When he was economically separate, he bought his first set.

Geller claims he loves Nikes above all else in the world. He notes that his first and center names are jordan reversed, hence the arbitrarily assigned number he received as he passed the Ca State Bar exam after law college, 234523, combined both jersey figures (23 and 45) Jordan made popular.

But Geller claims he could be done obtaining now. Although he's been able to guide himself with his footwear collection, moreover it represents a dark underbelly of fixation.

"It is crazy. Seriously crazy. Because i am wired become like that, therefore all or nothing—I can't even dabble in purchasing shoes, " he claims. We're sitting in an apparently unused seminar area in the bottom floor of their deluxe apartment building along Couch Park, where he today life together with wife, Natalie.

Geller knew that purchasing a set of every shoe Nike ever made was near impossible, but figured he could acquire an adequate amount of all of them to accurately curate their particular history. For a-year and a half, Geller claims, he was obsessed—a term he usually makes use of to spell it out himself.

"I did it in full privacy. I did not inform anyone the things I ended up being doing because I was thinking that individuals would think it's crazy, " he says. "we became totally obsessed with it, to in which every little thing we saw in the entire broad globe reminded me personally of an exhibit or a shoe."

After he exposed the ShoeZeum, it brought on a unique sorts of obsession. Jordan and Natalie Geller existed throughout the Strip, and even though they hired an instantly safety service, Geller would wake-up at 3 in the morning and get across nevada Boulevard to be sure of his footwear.

"folks are arriving and know exactly where nutrients is, " he claims. "when they desired to are presented in and go on it down, they could. We're able to get hurt as you go along. It had been super-duper dangerous."

The Gellers decided to close the ShoeZeum in November 2012, and relocated to Portland a year ago. But despite moving to Nike mecca, Geller decided it had been time to fully stop obtaining. He's rather already been attempting to sell them—which became a full-time career for the few.

He went from three large storage space lockers to two—and then one. He still has 200 to 300 pairs left, that are kept at Natalie's moms and dads' house, in a storage product plus in a secure deposit package.

"this has been an emotional choice for Jordan to prevent, " states Natalie. She says the attachment comes partially because his parent used to operate marathons in Nikes.

There are some sneakers he will hold: a set of game-worn jordan 1985 Air Jordan 1s, a set of Air Jordan 11s customized for him by popular Nike designer Tinker Hatfield, and an original Nike waffle shoe that was dug-up from Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman's garden, among others.

Their days of scouring e-bay and backpacking at footwear releases, however, tend to be over—although he states Nike has lifted their ban from local socket stores.

"i simply believe it's time to move on, " he claims. "i believe it has been healthy without a doubt. I don't need this things, and I also've currently done it, and I also have the memories of it. They truly are not out being enjoyed. They're just containers of things i have become scared of."