London & South East Premier Retail

New Balance

New Balance
Written by Roma Publications

New Balance – World-class performance for new sportswear store

New Balance

Celebrating the highly successful opening of its first European flagship store and its largest retail outlet to date, on London’s Oxford Street is US Sportswear fashion brand New Balance.

Occupying three floors, the 12,560 shop, which opened in October 2016, showcases the brand’s full product range of clothing and footwear, including lifestyle trainers.

Since its opening in October, the store has proved to be a resounding success, according to Mark Johnson, Global visual Merchandising director of New Balance, who said: “Feedback has been incredibly outstanding and the store has served the purpose which we had always intended, which is to pivot the perception of the brand, showcasing it in a different light.

“From a performance perspective too, the store has also been doing exceptionally well.

“The location of the new store in the centre of London’s prime shopping district speaks for itself and allows the brand to showcase itself in a way which didn’t exist prior to the London opening.

“London is the most amazing environment that we have in our portfolio of stores today – and gives us the ability to engage and communicate more deeply with our customers. We simply do not have another store like it.”

Externally, the Oxford Street store has a treble-height frontage featuring the New Balance red ribbon symbol, which is all about the store’s heritage – however, according to Mark Johnson, the store design is very much about the future.

Windows are in bronze-coloured metal frames and the large doors give expansive interior views.

Mark Johnson said: “The ground floor includes men’s and women’s wear and is all about performance and running, reinforcing our aim to become the best running brand in the world.”

Interior design features on this floor include the use of polished steel and concrete, bespoke artwork depicting London scenes and large digital screens featuring teams and individual athletes sponsored by New Balance.

The ground floor walls feature polished concrete panels, with flooring also in polished concrete painted with white lines, and the ceiling void has been blacked out to focus attention on the stock and displays.

The space includes rows of mannequins in sporting poses and a ‘running track’ feature across the centre, incorporating a 3D scanner which customers can step onto to determine the type of shoe which is most suitable for them.

A 3D rectangle is suspended from the ceiling to the rear of the shop, with displays of running shoes featured along the rear wall.

An architectural glass and steel staircase with adjacent digital screen running the full height of the three floors adds drama to the interior.

The staircase leads to the upper floor featuring to women’s sportswear, and the lower floor, which is dedicated to men.

On the women’s floor, the stark, concrete look is softened slightly by the use of wooden ceiling baffles and merchandise mats.

As on the ground floor, the bulk of the displays feature action-posed groups of mannequins, both in the mid-shop and around the perimeter.

The lower ground floor features a comprehensive men’s football presentation, including men’s training, lifestyle and NB1 Experience. Two large floor-to-ceiling screens depicting football players serve to highlight a display of football boots.

New Balance

 

 

 

 

About the author

Roma Publications