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Meet Jason Huggins of 5&A Dime in Downtown

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Huggins.

You’ve been to the store, but do you know how it started? It’s a “mom & pop” shop, or, more accurately, it’s a “sis & bro” show. Brother & Sister duo Jason & Darcie Huggins are two regular kids who grew up to become the co-founders of San Diego’s funniest & friendliest shop. Who are the Huggins kids anyway? Well, Jason (Jay) grew up submerged in the West Coast’s BMX, Snowboard, and Skate scenes. Ten years older than kid sister Darcie, Jay was the default babysitter. Instead of letting kid sis stay home to play with her “My Little Pony” collection, Jay dragged Darcie all over town. “There’s an empty pool?! Let’s skate it!−There’s a fence? Jump it!−You like dogs? Maybe you should wrestle it!” Years of this type of torment at the hands of big bro while following him around (somewhat unwillingly) on his adventures developed a love-hate relationship between the duo. Luckily for us all, there was (usually) more love than hate amongst them.

To this very day, Jay is still dragging Darcie along on his adventures, but now it’s a joint venture… in 2004, after a lifetime of tormenting his sister as the bossy big bro, Jay approached his kid sis with a crazy, but a good idea for a shop. Knowing that his younger & smarter sis had the brains & business savvy to make his idea come to life, Jay, in a change of roles, now needed Darcie’s help. The tables were turned, and Jay found himself at the mercy of Darcie! (Dun, dun, dun!) Jay was like “Hey Darcie, you want to start a store together?” Darcie said excitedly “No! That’s a terrible idea!” He begged her again (“Nah…” she replied.) Again (“Meh.” She sighed) And after 30 days of begging & pleading, big bro finally wore little sis down & the siblings opened 5&A Dime on a quiet Friday morning−the day after Thanksgiving… Black Friday! Then, located between 8th & 9th avenue facing G St. in Downtown San Diego, 5&A Dime’s original concept was to be a designer toy store that also sold cool coffee table books on things that they were interested in like design, oh yeah, they sold candy too. Yeah, the shop had split personality disorder, but it worked, somehow.

How? How did this love for toys & books & candies turn into one of the most acclaimed clothiers in all of San Diego? “We started selling some of our friends’ brands at the shop, out of our love for them, it ended up being something that really took off & changed the path of 5&A Dime forever.” Friends with brands such as Crooks & Castles, The Hundreds, Hellz, & In4mation (to name a few) were just starting out around that era & were stoked to find their clothes hanging on (and soon flying off) the racks for the first time ever. Brands have moved up & moved on, but 5&A Dime remains San Diego’s finest, funniest & friendliest spot to cop dude’s duds and women’s wardrobes.

In 2008, after nearly three years of continued success, with a store busting at the seams with clothes stacked from floor to ceiling, Jason & Darcie did what anyone enjoying a boom of somewhat accidental success would do−they packed up the shop & moved it… 30 feet North where it still stands proudly today on the corner of 8th Ave. & G St. in Downtown San Diego. What you see when you enter the world of 5&A Dime is not just a clothing store. It is a concrete foundation & wood floor laid by big bro & little sis. It is cupboards built by their folks Bud & Dolly Huggins. It is shelves, displays, & racks filled by clothes designed by real designers, real people, who are real friends. 5&A Dime is as local as it gets and is all about supporting San Diego in everything they do.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s funny because it seemed that things were much easier in the beginning. Maybe in part, it was our naivety as business owners but as time went on we were meet with some serious roadblocks. Some of the roadblocks were our own doing due to the early inexperience but there were other problems we had to deal with like the oversaturation in streetwear brands and stores and the housing market crash in mid/late 2000s.

5&A Dime – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
First and foremost, we are a men’s Streetwear brand. We also own a cookie company (The Goodstuff Cookie Co), party promotion (Hickies & Dry Humps) and run a local market (Clean Slate). Each business and brand supports the other and it’s probably safe to say that a good amount of San Diegans are aware of or have supported one of these businesses.

I would say we are most proud about us still being here. That may sound lil weird, but there were many times we should have or thought about giving up. We have been knocked down more times than we can count and although it feels harder to get up these days, we keep doing it. Not trying to have a pity party for ourselves, just want to be as transparent as possible. We have built a strong foundation in SD and are excited about the future and how this city and growing.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
It has to be working with my family. We all know that working with fam ain’t easy, but it’s been pretty awesome so far. We have always been a tight family and this thing we’re doing together has really strengthened that bond. Proud to be working with my parents and sis.

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Image Credit:
@_hanuit

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