On Robert Glasper’s album “Black Radio” the opening song ends with a speech by Michael Eric Dyson. The speech is centered on how traditional radio plays the same songs over and over delivering “mind numbing sameness”. Nike has done something similar. While a city like New York offers “flagship” stores, which breaks up the monotony, sneaker retail in other cities is a redundant Nike Wall of similarity. The displays are “throw” it on the wall in brand sections. The only reason traditional retail works is because the consumer buying these shoes is only worried about the color of the sneaker working with an outfit for the weekend. In some instances, a consumer only cares if it’s the latest hyped release, but the store doesn’t really matter. Visual merchandising isn’t expected or considered. This doesn’t mean it isn’t important, but a customer can’t miss what’s never been offered. My discussion on Foot Locker addresses how the Power Store format could be the best thing to happen to the chain, but in the rest of the Investor’s Day talk by Foot Locker they touted their realignment with Nike as a sign of righting their ship. This Jordan World of Flight Shibuya Store features elements of everything the redesigned Foot Locker is aspiring to be. It also moves Nike closer to the Apple concept and like a world class sporting event sucks up the bandwidth of viewership for hours, Jordan Shibuya is like an Apple store. It’s a destination and experience. Jordan WOF removes any need for Jordan fans to step foot in a wholesale accounts’ location.
One of the store’s most exciting and dynamic spaces is the Content Studio, the first of its kind for Jordan Brand. Shoppers can use the space to film unboxings and reviews and create content to share through their social handles.
Jordan World of Flight Shibuya will also serve as an innovation ground for membership, providing an opportunity for Nike Members to test new offerings and experiences. The store will have a dedicated SNKRS area for shoppers to pick up their wins from the app, while The Flight Lounge offers an in-store space for members to kick back and connect over Jordan Brand history and basketball culture.
The Shibuya store is close to the Harajuku trade zone and is located on Meiji Dori Street, one of the busiest retail destinations in Japan.
Jordan Brand won’t deliver these stores in large numbers around the world. The stores will be tabernacles in Key Cities, but Nike and Jordan Brand clearly understand that the best way to deliver fanaticism is to create worlds for their products and keep the fans of the brands engaged in their doors. As long as there are new drops at Finish Line, City Gear and Foot Locker, people will show up. Foot Locker’s smartest move was to redesign their stores with smarter layouts and with community engagement at the forefront, but what they shouldn’t do is place so much emphasis on a realignment with Nike. In my analysis of Lace Up, I repeat that product diversification is key. Nike is going to expand these concepts into more locations in some format. I also explain in my analysis that it’s difficult to adjust with a reduction in the Swoosh as retail simply doesn’t know how to sell anymore. Read the first section of the quote above. Jordan WOF has a Content Studio. Nike and Jordan Brand is empowering the consumer and could implement into their digital SNKRS app a member’s only feature where fans can book time to build content. Jordan Brand is sitting on a recurring revenue possibility and their wholesale accounts will never be able to offer this aspect of retail. It’s a component that makes the World of Flight one-part coworking hub and one part retail experience. Read the second paragraph of the quote above, winning a sneakers raffle, buying through the app and picking up in store with a booking slot of ten minutes to shoot your W… In the words of G-Eazy, “It Ain’t Safe”. (Yep, I quoted a Robert Glasper and G-Eazy song in the same post. Like sneaker retail should be, I have diversified music taste, lol.)