Nike opens House of Innovation flagship in New York City

Table Of Content

• STRIKING A BALANCE BETWEEN WORK AND SPORT
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Don't miss tomorrow's retail industry news
• Innovation for Athletes*
• Discover & Shop what's next with our brand new App
• Genesco CEO: Customers Are Trading Down as Market Fills With Heavily Discounted Athletic Shoes
• Cactus Plant Flea Market's Nike Air Force 1 Low Sneaker Releases Wednesday in 'Fuchsia' and "Moss'

The designers wanted to convey a sense of movement across the building, so they turned to slumping, a technique for bending red-hot glass beneath its own weight to lend strength and beauty. Each glass panel ripples with uniform etched waves angled at 23.5 degrees—the precise angle of Nike’s iconic Swoosh. It’s the sort of building Mies would have created had he gotten hold of a pair of Air Force 1s. This new mark in the retail landscape is undoubtedly the ultimate opportunity for Nike to get ahead by being heavily purpose-led, rather than being just another shop stacked with stuff. By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.

STRIKING A BALANCE BETWEEN WORK AND SPORT

Here, in a loungelike setting, members of NikePlus (a free service available through Nike’s app and website) can schedule one-on-one apparel consultations for a big race or for a night out. Here too, as on the first floor, shoppers can work with specialists to customize and remix their clothing. “As stores moved from transaction to experience, we are also moving from transaction to relationship,” explains Madden.

Paid Time Off (PTO)

The House of Innovation 000 also works with the Nike App to bring you a more convenient retail experience. With NikePlus Member Unlocks, customers can request an item be brought to them for fitting. The app also features Shop The Look, which lets you scan in-store mannequins to learn more about what they're wearing, and even browse sizing. Quite possibly the best aspect of the House of Innovation and Nike App working together is Instant Checkout.

Don't miss tomorrow's retail industry news

On a particularly miserable, damp day in Manhattan, people milled throughout the store—trying on shoes amid heaps of shopping bags, or pausing to watch Athletes customize apparel within their glowing workshops. Unfortunately, its shopping appeal outweighed any feelings of reverence, and hence it was the busiest and noisiest floor. To conjure ‘contemplative museum’ over ‘crowded marketplace’, it might have been more daring to showcase the shoes as one views precious objects, and offer buying only online or direct through the app. Using the product (in this case shoes) as a symbol, rather than purely as a commodity to be purchased, would elevate a simple display to another level. Are such bells and whistles enough to draw an audience beyond tourist-laden Fifth Avenue?

Innovation for Athletes*

There wasn’t enough in-depth storytelling to walk away having learnt something around what Innovation means for Nike. This was a shame as we’d all love to see some super nerdy content about what actually makes Nike shoes what they are, in easily-digestible bits. Of the above cool facts only #1 was on display for curious customers — #2–4 we found out by talking to an (admittedly very knowledgeable) Nike ‘expert’. So much thought and consideration has gone into details of the design — it’s a shame not more of that great content is shared more visibly. Featuring a “digitally powered” end-to-end consumer experience, the outpost is the latest representation of “Nike’s bold vision for the future of retail,” according to Cathy Sparks, global VP and GM of Global Nike Direct Stores and Service.

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Nike’s House of Innovation Flagship Is a Temple to Shopping in the Digital Age

In both concepts, convenience and customization seem to be top priorities for the iconic sports brand, but collecting customer data is high on the list. And the members-based mobile app, which features so heavily throughout the store, is the retailer's best way of doing that. Despite being sprawled over 6 floors, and designed to offer varied services within compartmentalised environments, HOI impressively does feel like one cohesive and connected place.

Discover & Shop what's next with our brand new App

In our last piece, we outlined a range of shifts and pulls within the retail landscape. This broad-brush portrayal of insights prompted many questions, and inspired us to delve deeper, to understand how some of these bold and leading-edge retail spaces are actually being experienced ‘live’. There's also a floor dedicated to customizable apparel, which includes not just changing the color of certain garments, but also switching out materials and even combining two different pieces of clothing into something entirely new. For a look at NYC's incredible new Nike flagship, open as of today, November 15, see the on-hand imagery. The fourth floor's Sneaker Lab alone houses the largest concentration of Nike footwear anywhere in the world, allowing you to browse through cutting-edge performance silhouettes as well as a bevy of classics. Although for right now the House of Innovation flagships are limited to just New York and Shanghai, Sparks said they plan to open one in Paris in December of 2019, and a new Nike Live store is in the works for Tokyo, though it hasn't been completed yet.

In addition, you can visit the Sneaker Bar and solicit the assistance of a store athlete or a digital read-out of locals-only data. Customers then have the opportunity to reserve items with just a phone call and have them held in an in-store locker for convenient pickup. "We actually talk about the House of Innovation as, really, Nike experiences for the world," Sparks said of the difference between the retailer's new flagship and its popular store in SoHo. "It's where we're going to give the deepest dive into our product innovation and the stories behind the designs and we'll be focused on large, global sports moments and how they come to life in New York City." "Part of the goal of this experience is that we're bringing our stories to life on the world's biggest stage," Cathy Sparks, global vice president and general manager of Nike Direct stores, told Retail Dive in an interview in the women's section of the store. "Doing it the way that retail's always operated by bringing the best product, the best experiences to life, but what we've added to this location is the really strong integration of digital and physical and allowing them to take their shopping experience into their own hands."

Cactus Plant Flea Market's Nike Air Force 1 Low Sneaker Releases Wednesday in 'Fuchsia' and "Moss'

Designed as a celebration of the sports brand’s trailblazing spirit, the store gives visitors a peek behind the curtain of how things are done and created at Nike. In addition to giving shoppers an avenue with which to create their own products, the flagship is also focused on showing customers where the brand has been. The retailer also plans to host footwear designers in the flagship to talk to customers about the shoes they've created, the designing process and what the features do for the shopper. That's not to mention a sneaker lounge on the Sneakerlab floor, which displays a series of Nike's recent sneaker releases in a mirrored room — a form of storytelling which Madden describes as an "invitation" for customers to join the sneaker community. Nike recognizes that customers are used to shopping on the internet, and it is banking on a set of in-house app capabilities to make in-person shopping a seamless, almost digital experience, rather than a hassle. Visitors add garments via QR codes to a virtual dressing room list; when they’re finished with browsing, they can head to a fitting room where their items will be waiting.

There's a customization lab on one side just past the entrance and a massive structure (what Nike executives are calling a "beacon") stretching up through the entryway to the five floors above it. From customizable sneakers and apparel to a localized Speedshop for New York customers, the flagship does just about everything — including mobile. Just beyond, at the back of the space, a glowing counter is set against a video backdrop.

All-in-all, the mobile features are focused on easing the customer's path to purchase. And it also comes into play for customers who saw something online but want to check it out in store before they buy. For those shoppers, the app allows them to pick up reserved items in a set of lockers by scanning their member pass. "Nike Arena," the floor most customers enter on, doesn't actually have any product on it. There's a large customization area where consumers can make changes to a pair of shoes they liked — change the color of the laces, of a Swoosh, of the whole shoe — and some other artistic elements, like the aforementioned "beacon," but the majority of the product is still to come. The fourth floor marks a dramatic shift in the store’s design language and hosts what to many will be the main attraction—the Nike Sneaker Lab, home to the largest collection of the brand’s footwear in the world.

This time we also had an ‘on the ground’ team of experience and spatial strategists, visiting the store on different days, to help us uncover meaningful insights. The first Nike House of Innovation 001 opened in Shanghai, followed promptly by the New York flagship 000, and with a third on its way in Paris. Across each location, Nike presents cross-category, consumer-focused spaces and experiences, and promises city-exclusive items specific to each city. For this piece, we’re zooming in on Nike’s new retail concept ‘House of Innovation’ to suss out if it’s delivering on its promises to customers, and achieving its goals as a pioneer in the retail scene. With a name like "House of Innovation" — which was already introduced through the launch of Nike's Shanghai flagship last month — it's no wonder the store is full of customization opportunities. It's also a lesson in mobile technology that actually adds utility (and convenience) for the shopper.

In theory, a great idea, but the mannequins were either dressed in outfits only a Nike mannequin could wear, or in looks so high fashion it was really difficult to decipher what the individual elements were and how you could put them into a look for yourself. In this case, Nike would have done better to be a bit more practical in order to help people shop easily (for ‘Nike Women Yoga Favorites’ for example) and leave the high fashion to the L05 Expert Studio. The mass appeal of the Sneaker Lab did however make us reflect on how much, beyond the enticing world of experiential and lifestyle type offerings, connecting to a brand is still inextricably linked to the love we have for the products they create. On L04 is the Sneaker Lab, which displays the largest collection of seasonally current Nike footwear anywhere. We’ve taken a close look at the 6-story retail mecca in New York — with the intention to be purposefully critical, looking into what is most successful, and where there might be further opportunities.