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The Best Foot Forward

Iconic footwear retailer Foot Locker is modernizing its brand, starting with its new reimagined store concept

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FOOT LOCKER (NEW YORK) continues to make strides since opening its first store in 1974 at Puente Hills Mall (City of Industry, Calif.). Back then, wood panels set on the diagonal defined the interior. Shoes were displayed toes forward on lined walls and spotlighted by trackheads. A few feature tables completed the package. By 1988, the brand’s icon, The Ref (wearing a now-iconic striped shirt), debuted.

The Best Foot Forward above: Foot Locker’s new concept offers customers abundant space for trying on merchandise and convienent, well-organized fixtures.

A half-century later, its latest store concept that opened at Willowbrook Mall (Wayne, N.J.) in April seeks to address that. Design firm Landor (San Francisco), working with Foot Locker’s internal team, was challenged to change the “lack of a cohesive store experience.” The resulting 17,240-square-foot store is open and dramatic, thanks to a primarily black-and-while palette that nods to Stripers, a.k.a. the store associates. The well-organized space is, without a doubt, all about footwear.

The Best Foot Forward

“Creating deeper customer connections with the Foot Locker brand was at the heart of our redesign,” says Jordan Taylor, Creative Director, Landor. “We unlocked new moments of discovery and delight.”

After entering through the sleek storefront, focal entry moments prominently position new releases and trending products, a feature not always possible in many stores due to abundant floor fixtures or inflexible floor plans. Moving toward the store’s center, can’t-miss signage – The Heart of Sneakers – speaks to sneakerheads, and the store’s Sneaker Hub is the place for experiences to elevate services like specialized lacing.

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The Best Foot Forward

The new design also puts the women’s department front and center, occupying more square footage than in the past. (Lady Foot Locker stores opened in 1982 but were phased out in 2015.) Customers can complete their purchases in different sections of the store (including the women’s section), allowing more convenience and flexibility. The try-on area is also centralized into a 250-square-foot gathering spot. Benches, a common element in previous Foot Locker stores, are sidelined. Instead, banquette seating wraps around a large, tiered product display.

Foot Locker is the “heart of sneakers,” according to Sarah Wexler, Foot Locker’s Senior Director, Global Store Design, “and our stores are at the heart of it all.” This new concept, she adds, “reimagines the store experience for the sneaker passionate, showcases our brand partners and is brought to life by our iconic Stripers.”

The Best Foot Forward

Throughout the remainder of 2024, additional locations of Foot Locker’s new store concept will open, including its pinnacle NYC 34th Street location which includes a reimagined Kids Foot Locker (with a space where parents and kids can connect) as well as new stores in Paris, Melbourne and Delhi, India.

PHOTO GALLERY (13 IMAGES)
📷 SIMON LEWIS, BROOKLYN, N.Y.

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