01 Sep Foot Locker Looks to Play Up the Store Experience
Start with the shoes but move on from there. That’s the plan at Foot Locker Inc., long known for its sneakers, which is reorganizing its stores to further highlight top brands, designating areas to showcase trends, and adding more displays of full sports gear to encourage broader shopping.
At the chain’s redesigned midtown Manhattan flagship, set to open Tuesday, large digital signs display images of the shoes as well as social feeds like Twitter that mention the brand. Larger areas are devoted to big brands like Puma and Under Armour. A section in its store is devoted to showcasing emerging fashions for women. And next to the store, there’s an experiential area called NYC33 with a separate entrance that will host fashion shows and showcase other events and launches.
“Sneakers drive the apparel that goes with it,” says Foot Locker CEO and President Dick Johnson. Even with all the other areas, the 13,000-square-foot store near Macy’s stocks about 50,000 sneakers for men, women and kids at any given time.