Nike’s LA Retail Stores Champion Community and Sport
HYPEBEAST experienced the Nike One Marketplace during Super Bowl weekend to learn how the brand is putting the consumer and the community at the forefront.
Los Angeles, California will always hold a special place in Nike’s heart. For one, it’s the city where the imprint opened its first retail location in 1967 when the brand was originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports. It’s also a place with a deep-rooted history in sports, as many of the professional teams and hometown athletes that the brand has sponsored over the years have gone on to win a number of championships or have had Hall of Fame-caliber careers. Major moments – including Nike SB signing L.A. native Paul Rodriguez as its first signature athlete, the innovation of the ever-iconic Air MAG from Back to the Future films and more – are associated with the California metropolis.
As a way of giving back to the city, Nike has honed in on providing its L.A.-based communities with top-of-the-line consumer experiences. From a retail standpoint, the brand has effectively evolved the shopping experience to cater to various audiences and experiences. During the Super Bowl weekend, HYPEBEAST toured through various Nike One Marketplace retail fronts to learn more about each location’s unique positioning and focus on community.
Nike Watts Community Store
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Based on the Southwest corner of 97th Street and Alameda Street, the Nike Watts Community store is focused on supporting its neighborhood. The employees of this location are predominantly local and are offered paid volunteer hours so that they have the opportunity to give back. The space is adorned with thoughtful community-oriented touches, from a vivid mural that sits behind the store’s checkout register to the special Watts wall logo that was designed by local rapper and artist STIX. Ahead of Super Bowl LVI, the Watts location hosted a special sports training session for kids as well as invited Houston Texans’ quarterback Tyrod Taylor to speak to the attendees.
Nike Glendale
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Nike by Glendale is the Swoosh’s fourth ever “live” store and is located inside The Americana outdoor shopping mall. This location specially caters to Nike’s female audience and also features select men’s offerings like running and lifestyle footwear and apparel. The outside is playfully styled with a large running mural and the inside bears a marquee-style message board that speaks to the entertainment aspect of L.A.
Nike uses its “live” stores to analyze what types of products the residents of a specific community are requesting and it will work with its distribution centers to make sure that inventory is stocked with those pieces. Customers at this location have the option of executing mobile order pick-ups here and also receive one-on-one customer service sessions to learn about what products best suit their workout needs and lifestyle. If you’re a sneakerhead, this location also receives sought-after general releases of Dunks and Air Jordan 1s.
UNDEFEATED
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For religious followers of streetwear and sneaker culture, UNDEFEATED is a household name. Located on South La Brea Avenue across from other Union L.A. and Stüssy, the boutique is considered a “partner” store of Nike, home to a variety of products like inline Nike Air Max 90s, ACG apparel and the latest sacai x Nike collaborations. HYPEBEAST had a chance to hear from the brand’s co-founder James Bond, who touched on the relationship between the two outposts. “Mark Parker gifted us our first collaboration, it was a white Dunk with the five strike logo on the side in an army green colorway,” he said. “It was that moment that we felt validated by Nike and that we were going to be an important partner moving forward.”
Nike Grove
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The Nike Grove store is L.A.’s flagship and caters to all types of Nike consumers. For Super Bowl weekend, the store set up a special customization station that allowed fans to decorate everything from jerseys to tote bags and even Air Force 1s with NFL graphics and logos. Life-sized mannequins dressed in Bengals and Rams uniforms were positioned at the front of the store in line with the sports event theme. The second floor was modified with a gaming lounge for customers to play Madden NFL and the top story featured a henna tattoo and nail art activation as a means of promoting Nike’s new dance-inspired footwear and apparel collection. The massive 31,000 square-foot space offers a dynamic shopping experience for all of its customers, showcasing basketball shoes, apparel, ACG products and Winter Olympics pieces.
@hypebeast #hypebeast: #Nike’s Los Angeles HQ is an employee paradise #hype #new #sneakers #sneakerhead #california #shoe ♬ Intro x Unforgettable – switchdisco
In other news, first images of the WHO DECIDES WAR x Nike Air Force 1 Low have emerged.
