A funny thing happened to Malik Morris as he set out to practice physical therapy.
After obtaining his doctorate in August 2018, Morris was working in his chosen profession until he was furloughed in March 2020 due to COVID-19.
Capitalizing on his prior experience in fashion entrepreneurship, Morris then started the Malik Dupri brand — his first and middle names — online and opened a sunglass kiosk last November in the Roosevelt Field Mall.
When a storefront became available in the mall, Morris jumped at it and opened the shop on June 12.
As a Black independent store owner, Morris, 26, also has the distinction of being one of the youngest independent store owners in the mall, per to Roosevelt Field’s marketing team.
Sunglasses are still the main attraction at the Malik Dupri shop, which carries 15 different collections of the eponymous brand, in styles with on-trend names like Doja, Guapo, Fivi, RiRi, Stunna and ShamirMuzik, all available in a variety of colors. Six of the sunglass collections are designated for women, and come in cat eye, round, square and rimless styles in four or five different colors.
In addition to sunglasses, there’s a line of clothing, most of it unisex, all bearing the Malik Dupri name.
“We also have a lot of luxury everyday wear, but affordable,” notes Morris.
Casual wear includes caps, matching sweatshirts and sweatpants, T-shirts, shorts and stretch luxury cargo pants. A line of Malik Dupri jeans will be coming soon. On the fancier side for men, there are silk button down dress shirts.
“A lot of collections we style off of celebrity influencers,” Morris explains. “Either we’re doing a collaboration with the artist or we feel like the style that we’re trying to put out resonates with a certain artist and celebrity.”
Prices start at $50 for T-shirts and go up to $450 for horn-rimmed glasses with Swarovski crystals. Malik Dupri is located in Roosevelt Field Mall at 630 Old Country Road in Garden City. The store is open Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; 516 742-8000, malikdupri.com.
