How Sporting Giants Nike And Adidas Are Pushing The Future Of Retail

The future of retail features a basketball court. This fall, the world’s two largest athletic-gear makers—Nike and Adidas—opened massive multi-floor stores in Manhattan as a way to champion a more immersive retail experience to promote the sports brands in a way that cannot be delivered by department stores and specialty sports retailers. Those features include customization of jerseys and shoes, athletic consultation services, and same-day delivery service in New York City. “Consumers just expect more,” Heidi O’Neill, Nike’s president of global direct to consumer, told Fortune at the company’s new 55,000-square foot store in SoHo. “They expect more immersive experiences at retail like you are seeing here.” The new SoHo store from Nike is the second major retail space the company has opened on the island of Manhattan. The first was the Niketown store in Midtown, just south of Central Park. A third is planned on the trendy Fifth Avenue, where Nike this month signed a lease to take over a seven-floor, 69,214-square-foot space. Adidas, meanwhile, already operates a large store in SoHo but debuted a new, roughly 45,000-square-foot store on Fifth Avenue this month. Smaller rival Under Armour is also planning a big, splashy New York City push as it plans to open a flagship store in a space that once housed the famed FAO Schwarz toy store. Read more at Fortune.