It all started in 1969 in the height of the psychedelic era. Black-light posters were all the rage and Glen needed a black-light to properly display his but they were hard to come by. The only place he could find them was at lighting wholesalers, but unfortunately wholesalers would only sell to businesses and you couldn't only get a business license without a business address (which in those days couldn't just be out of your home). Glen assumed that if he was having such a hard time getting his hands on a black-light others were probably having the same problem. So he found an inexpensive second floor shop space on Victoria's famous Government Street for $80 per month, or $60 if he swept the stairs, and he began his Baggins journey.

With a shop space and a wicked black-light room, he had the makings of a real store. He added posters, incense, candles, smoking paraphernalia, etc. Despite being on the second storey, 15 feet above the foot traffic, the store did well and two years later Baggins expanded and moved to Bastion Square. With the addition of women's clothing imported from India, Baggins continued to grow, and after 5 years in Bastion Square, Baggins moved to the newly opened Market Square on lower Johnson Street. At that point, Baggins specialized in Indian and Indonesian imports, fashion and accessories.

In the late 1980's, one of our clothing line reps took on the very small line Converse had available at the time. For Glen this was very nostalgic, as he had worn Chucks in elementary school. As far as a shoe for P.E. and sports, Converse was about all there was back in the 50's. Baggins was already considered a very cool place to shop but with the addition of Converse, it became a fixture in the Victoria specialty retail scene. It didn't take long before Glen realized from the customer response that he was on to something good. In those days, the catalogue was quite limited, but each season it got bigger and Baggins grew with it, and before long, Converse shoes became the number one seller. It was in the early 90s that the decision was made to become a world leader to retail Converse, where we were to become specialists.

Over the next couple of years we dropped all our other lines, and moved our store to its current location, and started selling online. Since then we have added an equally impressive selection of Vans to our offering. We are certain that there is no greater selection of Converse in the world and that is probably true of the Vans as well. We now ship shoes around the globe on a daily basis and have a worldwide following of Converse and Vans diehards. Our selection and commitment to excellent customer service combined with our relaxed atmosphere and funky staff make us one of those quirky shops it's hard to forget.

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