Former WTAMU football player, turned vintage clothes shop owner, Michael Geeker just opened two locations of his store Ripptaggs. There is one next to campus at 2323 4th Ave, and another located in Amarillo at 2706 SW 6th Ave. Geeker opened the Canyon location Oct. 4 and just 21 days later opened his second location in Amarillo Oct. 25.
Geeker was previously working as a sales representative at State Farm, but after failing his Life and Health test five times, he decided to change directions.
“I was like, ‘I’m tired of wasting money on this test that I don’t have time to study for, and focus on,” Geeker said. “I quit State Farm to focus on Ripptaggs because that’s really where my passion was at, and all in the meantime, I’m still a WT student and I graduated this past May.”
Since deciding to pursue Ripptaggs full time, Geeker has been hosting and going to pop ups to sell his merchandise. Even hosting his own event with 30 other vendors at The Embassy Suites in Amarillo.
“Then I found out about my two stores mid to late August, and it was literally the day after I heard about the Amarillo location, this one came up, [I] snagged it up.” Geeker said the stores weren’t even on the market, “I had to walk in and basically cold call people like I was doing at State Farm.”
Geeker worked hard to get to where he could confidently take a risk and start a business full time. He decided to make it an “official” business, complete with an Instagram after moving to WT, but still had a long way to go.
“I had one clothing rack that I got from Walmart for seven bucks, and that was my inventory, that was everything, and I’d have the football players come and look and some random customers would come by,” Geeker said. “I moved to Founders, and I had a roommate named JoJo, and he was so supportive of my business. We remodeled the room to where it fit the business, and it was like a store in the dorm room.”
Geeker started leveling up after moving to his own dorm room, providing more space for his business.
“I had two clothing racks now, so I’d have people shop, and I was really focused on football, I mean, Ripptaggs was my side hustle,” Geeker said. “It was kind of profitable, but I wasn’t making that much money, like I was selling clothes to either buy food or buy me more clothes.”
Ripptaggs wasn’t his original focus or goal, though. Geeker started playing football his junior year of high school and was then recruited to WT with dreams of going to the NFL.
“When I wanted to first play football, my mom never let me, because she said I was going to get hurt.” Geeker dislocated his shoulder and after months of rehab, hurt it again. Soon after, he got a severe concussion and had to quit for his own safety. “She was right, mama’s always right.”
With more time on his hands after giving up football, Geeker was able to find and thrift more clothes, get his job at State Farm and earn his degree in Business management, with an emphasis in small business. Just five months later, he has two locations.
“I couldn’t have done it without God, praise to Him,” Geeker said. “Anyone could say, ‘oh, it’s a coincidence,’ but it’s definitely God that got me there, and that’s really amazing.”
Geeker also explained the many risks he had to take, such as starting football, starting the business, moving to a new community in Canyon, quitting his job to pursue the business, and accepting, not one, but two buildings to open a store. His advice to others would be to always take those risks.
“I mean, I think the big thing is, putting God first, you know, he’ll lead you anywhere,” Geeker said. “But then also, taking the risk, you can’t do anything without taking the risk.”
Starting a small business has come with having to make new communities, including here at WT, in Canyon, in the vintage business and in Amarillo. Geeker said he is grateful for his parents’ support through the challenges.
“When I quit my job, they weren’t happy, but my dad is the most supportive person, he was like, ‘I trust you.” Geeker said his professors have also been supportive. “There’s been a lot of teachers [that have been supportive], like in my business management classes, some of my professors would plug Ripptaggs on their presentations.”
Geeker remembers working on a class presentation similar to Shark Tank in a business management class that turned out to prepare him for his future.
“In Dr. Yoo’s class we had to do a presentation where we found an available storefront in Amarillo and we did it with 5 people… we had a vintage clothing store,” Geeker, and his classmates, Adan and Jaylyn would provide vintage t-shirts, from Ripptaggs, and sneakers from Adan and Jaylyns’ businesses and the other classmates worked at the store. “We got the best grade in the class … But Dr. Yoo didn’t understand the thrifting business… so it’s cool to be able to do it.”
For Geeker though, thrifting is more than just old shirts or a way to make a profit.
“I treat it as a piece of history, like, for me, I have a championship Rocket shirt from the 90s; we haven’t won since then,” Geeker said. “I treat vintage as a Pokemon card that you can wear, it has value,” Geeker said, while wearing a grey shirt donning the words, “rage against the machine” across the chest in a singular white line. “The reason these things have value is because of the condition, even this shirt, I paid, I think $100 for this shirt… but some people understand it, some people don’t. And if they don’t, I mean, I could try to explain it to them, but it just sometimes isn’t for everyone.”
You can support Geeker and his journey by visiting one of his locations and following his Instagram, @Ripptaggs.
