By Erin Walker, Newswire Intern

Student innovation takes form in The Blob’s Closet, a vintage clothing shop run by junior business management and entrepreneurship double major Cooper Downerd.

The Blob’s Closet, located in Xavier’s Center for Innovation (CFI), is a student created and run business focused on convenience and accessibility for students. The shop offers in-person services but also is available online through theblobscloset.square.site.

Downerd first came up with the idea for The Blob’s Closet in November of his first-year at Xavier. With the help from the Fellowship Grant from the CFI awarded to him in January, Downerd was able to buy the equipment and products needed to start his store. The idea for the shop came from Downerd’s passion and experience in entrepreneurship and his growing interest in vintage fashion. 

“In fifth grade, I started reselling shoes, and then sixth grade resold fidget spinners and this and that,” Downerd said. “I always had a random side hustle going, but I’ve always been in shoes and clothes. I thought it’d be great to bring something (to Xavier) where students could interact and find things that they like to add to their wardrobe that’s near the school, rather than going 15 minutes to UC to find the shops down there.”

The business did not start overnight, taking six to eight months of early mornings pricing items accordingly and setting up shop. Another step of taking on a new business was understanding his customer base and item affordability. With that in mind now, Downerd has pivoted to make all his prices negotiable to keep everything more affordable for fellow students. 

“I learned that Xavier students are more price conscious,” Downerd said. “So, I added $5 bins, added $1 bins and made everything negotiable. You could see a $40 shirt, and I gave it for 10 bucks the other day to someone. You know, 30 bucks off, just because why not? I keep it where anyone can get something they’d like.”

The day to day of the shop is a lot smoother, consisting of setting up shop when open, placing professionally printed signage around campus and pricing supplies when they come in. The foot traffic for The Blob’s Closet has increased since the shop opened but Downerd looks to make his products even more accessible for students through online shopping and dorm delivery. 

Downerd may have gained many entrepreneurship skills from starting and running The Blob’s Closet, but he also was able to utilize many previous skills from his previous sidle hustles in his start-up such as website design and pricing tactics. He is looking to take his experience from The Blob’s Closet to hopefully create a blank wholesale clothing company in Cincinnati after graduating from Xavier. 

For fellow students looking to go into entrepreneurship like him, Downerd suggests not waiting and pursuing your business idea right away.

“Start as soon as possible, even if you don’t have the resources, because you’re going to come into 50 new problems a day,” Downerd said. “You’ll have one simple task, and then you’ll be sitting at the computer for four hours realizing that one simple task had 30 separate tasks that you needed to do before you could do that one. So waiting until you think you are good is not ideal. You’re never going to be at that point. You’re never going to be ready. You just have to do it, and then that’s how you become ready, because you’re learning and you’re getting more things under your belt.”

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