Nike’s New SoHo Shop

Nike just opened a new, 55,000-square-foot location in New York City’s trendiest shopping district, SoHo — and it’s a sight to see. The five-level store sells all of Nike’s multi-sport brands and also features a host of customization options, trial centers and digital additions for a fully immersive purchasing experience.

The sportswear retail giant’s new store features multiple product testing centers where consumers can try out products for the best fit with the help of in-store athletics consultants. And they do so with the help of digital screens providing fitness ambiance.

There’s a basketball trial zone the size of a half court with 23-foot ceilings and an adjustable hoop––complete with videos of NYC’s courts. There’s also a soccer trial zone where shoppers can try out cleats on a synthetic turf field. As if that weren’t enough, two running centers allow customers to try out shoes on a treadmill surrounded by screens that can show footage of Central Park or the West Side Highway.

On the new store, Heidi O’Neill, Nike’s president of global direct-to-consumer, is quoted as saying, “We’re leading the transformation of sports retail — offering the best of Nike products, services and experiences under one roof. With Nike SoHo, we can realize the promise of personalized performance.”

Nike posted disappointing earnings in late September of this year. Although they beat Wall Street’s estimates, they also project weak future sales.

The new store is perhaps an indication of future physical retail endeavors for Nike and others to compete with online retail proliferation. Stores can rely more on immersive, in-store digital retail experiences and increased customization as a means to draw foot traffic back into the brick-and-mortar — as shown by recent moves by Ballard Designs, for example.