How does a small West Kootenay clothing store become a social-media sensation literally overnight?

All it takes is a little creativity from staff and a 鈥淗ot Boss鈥� by the name of Rhylan Streloff.

JJ鈥檚 Fashions in Trail has attracted over 1.2 million followers and over 22.7 million likes on video-sharing app TikTok.

鈥淲e鈥檙e literally ecstatic,鈥� said store employee Madicyn Dobie. 鈥淲hen we hit one million followers, we were freaking out. We鈥檙e from Trail, and it鈥檚 such a small town and a small area so for anyone whether a business or anything.

鈥淔or a million people to follow you when you鈥檙e from such a small area 鈥� it鈥檚 insane.鈥�

JJ鈥檚, like many local businesses, had been hit hard by the pandemic, so in October, employees Dobie and Paige Witt decided to combine fashion with fun and create a post of two young employees swooning over their obliviously handsome boss.

They convinced Streloff to play along and Dobie filmed and edited a short 15-second video of the two young women popping to the Jack Harlow tune 鈥淲hats Poppin鈥� in an effort to get their Hot Boss鈥� attention.

The video鈥檚 success was unexpected.

鈥淗e wanted to take the first video we made down,鈥� said Dobie. 鈥淭hen we woke up the next day and it had three million views.鈥�

Streloff was a little self-conscious and concerned at first, but soon the popularity and growing number of followers helped ease any reservations.

鈥淚t was funny, but I was worried because it was a little edgy, and I am always worried about what people think, but in the end we are just having fun,鈥� said Streloff.

And as for the term 鈥淗ot Boss?鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 a little strange for me, but I just have to take it as a joke, and have fun with it. Even the coffee bar across the street, they write it on my coffee cup.鈥�

The JJ鈥檚 team collaborates on all their videos.

The exposure proved a big help in launching JJ鈥檚 online website, and while it hasn鈥檛 yet proved a huge financial windfall, its social-media reach is off the charts with over 100,000 million views so far.

鈥淭hat (the pandemic) was the reason I didn鈥檛 take it down, and we kept doing this,鈥� explained Streloff. 鈥淎t any point we could be shut down and our business has been affected so to get an online store going, and building a following this way, at least we know we have the backup and a little revenue coming in.鈥�

JJ鈥檚 has been in business for 37 years, started by Streloff鈥檚 grandmother in Castlegar and continued by his father. Streloff took over the business after working for 10 years in the oil and gas industry.

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