After Geller was banned from shopping at Nike in 2009, he transformed his San Diego warehouse into a museum for sneakers, which he called the ShoeZeum.
Geller moved the ShoeZeum to Las Vegas in 2012, where he was featured on an episode of the reality TV show Pawn Stars.
[note 2] Geller would end up breaking his own record a year later when he sold a pair of game-worn and autographed Air Jordan 1s for over half a million dollars at auction.
[4] His father was a real estate agent and a 10-time marathon runner, who reportedly only wore Nike sneakers, while his mother worked as a contemporary artist.
[13][4] His randomly assigned attorney ID number–234523–corresponds to the two jersey numbers Michael Jordan wore during his NBA career.
During his time in law school, Geller visited local swap meets and outlets to purchase Nikes that he later resold for a profit on his eBay business, Sneak's Kicks.
"[14] In 2010, Geller converted his online reselling business into a museum for shoes, called the ShoeZeum, which initially displayed around 2,000 pairs of sneakers.
Geller's inspiration for the ShoeZeum included Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Field of Dreams, The Last Lecture, Man on Wire, and Walt Disney.
On March 21, 2011, seven top Nike executives, including then-CEO Mark Parker and designer Tinker Hatfield, accepted Geller's invitation and visited the ShoeZeum.
[8][20] Before the ShoeZeum was open to the public, Geller auctioned off five "golden tickets" for a private tour of his warehouse, with all the proceeds benefiting the Livestrong Foundation.
[8] On August 30, the ShoeZeum re-opened in a 7,500 sq ft (700 m2) rented space at the Neonopolis shopping center in downtown Las Vegas.
[30] In 2014, Jeff Wasson, a utilities worker, sold an early prototype shoe that he found in Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman's backyard to Geller for $1,500.
[31][32][33] Geller acquired a pair of Moon Shoes owned by American runner Mark Covert for an undisclosed amount in 2015.
[38] Similar to Mortenson, Dave Russell, a runner from Sacramento, was present at the 1972 Olympic Trials, where he was also given a pair of Moon Shoes.
[60] The sale of the shoes coincided with the release of the ESPN documentary The Last Dance, which chronicled how the Chicago Bulls secured their sixth NBA championship during the 1997-1998 season.
[65] In July 2018, Geller sold an original Nike Air Mag, designed for the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II, for $92,100 at auction.
According to the Robb Report, the most desired sneakers were a pair of black and gold Air Force 1s made with Nike Shox technology.
The Sneakers Shop consists of rare game-worn and autographed shoes from Geller's collection, including a Nike Air Max 1 signed by Tinker Hatfield, a pair of Reebok Pumps signed by Shaquille O'Neal, and a pair of Michael Jordan's game-worn and autographed Air Jordan 7s.
[75] In a 2014 YouTube video, Geller explained that part of the reason he was selling his shoes was due to the poor shelf life of the polyurethane, a squishy material commonly inserted between the upper and lower soles of sneakers.
[26] After moving to Portland in 2015, The Oregonian reported that Geller had 350 remaining pairs of sneakers, and he planned to sell 250 of them in the upcoming holiday season.
The paper reported that Geller had stopped collecting, and he stored his last 200–300 remaining pairs of sneakers in his wife's parents' home, a storage unit, and a safe deposit box.
"[4] Geller's record for the largest sneaker collection has allegedly been broken by three sisters from South Florida who have amassed over 6,000 pairs.
"[11] Nike designer Tinker Hatfield gifted Geller a custom pair of Air Jordan 11s for his wedding, which took place on 11/11.