25 Nov Columbia Sportswear opens first-ever brand store in New York City
Columbia Sportswear on Monday opened its first branded store in New York City, just in time for the holiday shopping season.
The store is located at 345 W. 14th St., in between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in New York’s Meatpacking District. The store will offer a range of Columbia’s outerwear, apparel and footwear.
Columbia products already were distributed through the company’s retailer network in New York and throughout the Northeast.
The store opening is the latest in the Washington County-based company’s retailing strategy that chief executive Tim Boyle described in an Oct. 30 conference call with stock analysts to review Columbia’s third quarter results.
“We are evolving our branded retail store strategy with new differentiated store formats, centered around our Performance Fishing Gear collection, the Sorel brand, as well as broader Columbia brand assortments,” Boyle said at the time. “During the fourth quarter, we’ll be opening six of these new branded stores.”
Boyle mentioned the New York store as well as plans to open two other “Columbia classic stores” in Chicago. Also, Performance Fishing Gear (PFG) stores have been opened in the Avalon Mall in Alpharetta, Ga., and at the Southlake Town Centre in Dallas.
Boyle also mentioned in the call that the company was opening its first-ever Sorel boot brand store, also in New York’s Meatpacking District. The address of the store is the same as the Columbia store that opened Monday. The Sorel and Columbia stores are next door to each other in the same large building, but are two distinct spaces. And that location is a short walk from the Highline trail running along the Hudson River.
“We believe each of these new branded store formats will serve as a strong addition to our demand creation efforts while serving as laboratories for us to learn about each brand’s target consumer and translate that understanding into better in store presentations within our own stores,” Boyle said, “but more importantly for our wholesale customers.”
— Allan Brettman