‘It’s just not making enough money’: Greenwood’s Silhouette Sneakers to close

Silhouette Sneakers & Art will close up shop Thursday after seven years on Black Wall Street due to low sales. 

The sneaker shop was known for reselling high-end footwear, typically retro Jordans, classic Nike shoes like Dunks and other athletic attire. 

“It’s nothing deep about it. It’s just not making enough money,” Kellen James, the store’s owner, told The Eagle. “The industry has kind of changed. Traffic is tough to try to bring people in.” 

Silhouette got its start in 2019 when Venita Cooper took her reselling businesses from an online concept to a suite on 10 N. Greenwood Ave. James, a Tulsa native and sneaker fanatic, took up the mantle in 2024 and began making it his own by promoting local designers who told the story of Greenwood. 

The resale market peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people were stuck indoors and interest in online shopping — specifically sneakers — skyrocketed. 

But sales have decreased since then due to high prices and diversified consumer interest. Even Jordans, the most popular streetwear line, have seen a decline, James said. 

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“I think what happened is people started to realize how absurd it was,” James told The Eagle in July. “I just sent a guy a pair of black metallic 5’s. It’s like $550 for those. It shouldn’t be that much. But that’s marketing.” 

Silhouette is another notable business to close within the Greenwood District over the past year, alongside Fulton Street Books & Coffee and Isla’s Kitchen, which both shut their doors in October 2025. 

Despite the area’s historic roots, business owners have voiced concerns over the viability of owning and growing a business in the area. 

“It just doesn’t have enough of the normal everyday traffic to come through there,” James said Wednesday. “Not everybody is just looking to come through and spend $400 on shoes.” 

Guy Troupe, owner of Black Wall Street Liquid Lounge, relocated his coffee shop from Black Wall St. to inside the Greenwood Entrepreneurship at Moton, 609 East Pine St., for a similar reason. Greenwood is more of a tourist area than a place where locals regularly shop, Troupe told The Eagle. 

But James doesn’t think the area is without hope. He said he loves Greenwood and thinks it has the ability to thrive, but Tulsa’s business community needs to collaborate more for that success to happen. 

“If I was in Houston, Texas, if I was in Dallas, if I was in Atlanta, this business would be through the roof,” he said in July. “Tulsa is trying to get somewhere, and so in order to do that, we need to support each other a little bit more.” 

James said he hopes to get back into the resale game sometime in the future, but for now he’ll lace them up one last time for Silhouette. Its final hours will be from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday. Its website will still be active for anyone unable to attend. 

Ismael Lele is a Report for America corps member and writes about business in Tulsa for The Oklahoma Eagle. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting this link.

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