Adidas‘ long-awaited midtown Manhattan storefront is now open.
The New York City flagship — located at 565 Fifth Ave. on the corner of 46th Street — takes up more than 45,000 square feet of real estate throughout its four floors, with levels dedicated to men’s footwear and apparel, a Launch Zone, women’s footwear and apparel, and a level for Adidas Originals and young athletes.
The store is special for Adidas for multiple reasons. For starters, it’s the athletic giant’s largest store in the world. It also introduces a stadium retail concept, which is inspired by high school stadiums and designed with the culture of sport in mind. To execute the concept, Adidas welcomes customers through a tunnel entrance. There are stands to resemble live-game viewing, and the store features locker rooms rather than dressing rooms. But to really nail the theme, the brand built a track and a turf section for customers to wear-test product.
Aside from the theme of the door, Adidas ensured consumer engagement and satisfaction was at a high by installing a guest kiosk on the ground floor with healthy juices and fitness consultants, a print shop for real-time jersey customization, a miadidas Studio for footwear and apparel customization, same-day hotel delivery service and more.
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On Tuesday, Footwear News previewed the space and spoke with Simon Atkins, brand director for Adidas America, to see why the new midtown door was so special.
Adidas Wants to Take Over NYC
“We have three key decisions that we’ve made, and one of them is a key-city attack. And New York, of course, is globally on our list. We have the Originals store in Soho, we have Houston and Broadway, so it was logical that we could come up here and have another presence. We’re on Fifth Avenue and 46th — right in the heart of everything. It’s great to have a global flagship here. It’s part of our overall game plan to focus on New York. Fifth Ave and 46th is a core area both for the tourist and also as a main Manhattan consumer.”
The Stadium Concepts Makes It a Destination
“It’s our No. 1 global flagship; it’s the best articulation of our brand. When you think about everything that we’ve been doing to create what’s fresh and new about our brand, this is the first physical manifestation of everything that we’re about. In terms of size and scale, it’s the biggest global store that we’ve ever had. The best thing that I’m really excited about is the philosophy of stadium, the concept we’re talking about today. It’s a reflection of the culture of sport through the lens of high school. Think about a high school stadium — the rawness, the concrete, the tunnel entrance when you come in, the stands facing outwards towards our consumer, wall posters and nuances to home and away in our activation zone. It’s a real articulation of sport, and that to me is the true reflection of the identity of Adidas.”
It’s a Reflection of the Brand’s Growth
“It’s a stake in the ground of where we are, but more importantly about the journey we’re on. We are supremely confident about the consumers we’re starting to attract through the lens of sport and style; that real middle ground of sport culture is where we live and what you’re seeing in the store. A store like this takes 12 to 18 months to create. We created our plan almost two years ago to get to where we’re at. We kind of knew where we were going to be, as we are today.”
Consumer Engagement and a True New York Experience Are Priorities
“We’ve spent a lot of time beyond the aesthetics, which, of course, is more intrinsic, in consumer services and advice we’re going to provide for athletes — advice on how to run or work out, and health and wellness. On the mezzanine in our activation zone, you’ll be able to take a piece of New York, too, with New York-specific products that we’ve done. We’ll fuel the intellectual, physical and mental of athletes [who] come in and also experience a little bit of New York — that’s what we’re really after.”
