Portfolio: New Balance, Boston

DESPITE E-COMMERCE GROWTH, New Balance (Boston) is doubling down on building and remodeling its physical retail fleet globally, beginning with its Boston flagship located at its global headquarters. The shoe and apparel retailer tapped Universal Design Studio (London) with an assist from Map Project Office (London) to handle the new concept, says Elizabeth Lester, Senior Manager, Global Retail Design and Development at New Balance. (Boston-based Bergmeyer served as Architect of Record.) The teams’ work will serve as a jumping-off point for redesigning New Balance’s flagship stores globally.

Visitors to the 10,000-square-foot Boston flagship will encounter an open space dubbed the “Stage,” that features a “flexible infrastructure which can be dressed to provide local nuances of the latest collaborations, events, launches and activations,” says Becky White, Associate Design Director of Universal Design Studio.

New Balance’s flagship at its Boston headquarters is a jumping-off point to redesign the retailer’s stores around the globe.

The store has been further divided into different zones that can be reconfigured based on need, such as the “Fit for You” and “Fit for Performance” areas, which include running and performance lifestyle products. Fit for You was conceived as a place to browse and slow down with leather seating, red-stained tables and gray-stained wood shelving feature bullnose edges, while illuminated ceiling panels create a sense of intimacy. The Fit for Performance area reflects motion through elements, including metal ceiling baffles that add rhythm through repetition to perimeter displays made of anodized aluminum and curved seating. Sculptural stainless steel display tables punctuate.

An additional area is “Made,” devoted to locally made New Balance products designed as an in-store boutique using deep-toned woods and polished metals.

To visually link these areas, “We created connectivity using the brand colors gray and red,” White says. “We strove to make the New Balance gray ownable by expressing the diversity of gray in both tonality from warm to cool, and in richness, from rich and deep to light and delicate.”

The materials palette includes stained woods, reflective metals, semi-translucent resins and textured paints. Says White, “We specified materials and finishes, for example, leather and timber, that will wear in and become more beautiful over time.”

Lester says the design process began summer 2023, culminating in the March 2025 opening of the Boston flagship. The London Oxford Street remodel followed in April, with plans for the Tokyo Harajuku remodel to be completed by this year’s end.

PHOTO GALLERY (8 IMAGES)

PHOTOS: KEITH MORRISON, JERSEY CITY, N.J.