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At Great Lakes Mall in Mentor, the audible buzz of shoppers moving around the day after Christmas echoed throughout the facility.

Of the smaller pop-up shops, one place stood out among the several temporary units: Hoodie Hook, an organizing item being sold by northeast Ohio resident PJ Jones.

“My son came up with the idea for Hoodie Hook when he was a teenager and now he’s a freshman in college. It came about because I was really, really tired of his hoodies everywhere. They were on the floor, the back of the door, the backs of my dining room chairs and even though we had traditional hooks, he never used them,” Jones said.

So she challenged her son to sketch out what a hook should look like to hang his items up and have one made.

“And we made the Hoodie Hook. I did all the homework to make sure I could get it patented, which I did. It’s in the shape of a basketball because it’s the sport that my son played, but we’re going to do all sports and colors eventually,” she said.

“It’s a hook you can hang on the door or on the wall. It’s really, really cool and you can hang up to ten or fifteen things by doubling or tripling up on the hooks that are curved so you don’t get indentations on the hook.”

One other benefit that Jones believes comes from owning a Hoodie Hook is it helps teach organization and tidiness for younger kids, adding “they can hang their hoodies up there, it’s easy access. It’s really cool.”

Jones, who used to set up shop at Beachwood Mall before the pandemic, has been out at Great Lake Mall the whole month of December selling the product.

“People have been really amazed by it when they walk by, but there are also people who come up and are like  ‘Oh my god! I need this in my life!’ because they have the same problem that I had,” Jones noted.

The experience Jones has had selling the product at Great Lakes Mall since first setting up shop earlier this month has been nothing but positive, she said. She’s enjoyed being there a lot, with plans to keep coming back next year.

Jones already has a full-time job, with her son going to school at The Ohio State University as a first year student, so she’s limited to working on the weekends to sell more Hoodie Hooks.

“It’s such a niche product. What I’ve found over the last couple of years is that it’s a great Christmas gift, so we do really well around Christmas. Otherwise, we’re selling these at basketball events,” she said.

Since the inception of the Hoodie Hook in February 2016, Jones has been handling the business part of the work, creating prototypes and other designs that ironically includes a hoodie.

“We launched in January 2017, so we’ve been working to get it in front of more people every year,” Jones added, which includes their own website.

Hoodie Hooks also are sold on Amazon, and to Jones’ delight, listed as Amazon’s Choice on the retailer’s website, garnering more traffic and eyeballs to see the product.

“We were really surprised to see that because it just showed up one day, but it’s been really helpful in terms of getting us more visibility on the platform. Going from when my kid was 14 when he designed this and now he’s a freshman at Ohio State, he still took his Hoodie Hook with him,” Jones said.

Her son has relayed back that friends have loved the design and that his roommate definitely has one, along with a few other friends, Jones said.

“It’s quite useful. It’s made for hoodies, but he still hangs his wet bath towel, his bath robe and sometimes his book bag. That’s how strong it is. You can hang it on your door, a wall or your favorite man cave. It’s easy access for your favorite hoodie.”

For more information visit www.hoodiehook.com or email info@hoodiehook.com.

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