Foot Locker Teams With Nike to Open 'Power' Stores
Foot Locker is teaming with Nike as it rolls out bigger, more interactive stores. These so-called Power stores are four times as big as a typical Foot Locker store in malls. The newest will open Saturday in New York — in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. The retailer plans to open upwards of 50 Power stores over the next three years. It has three in the U.S. today: one in Detroit and two in Philadelphia. The roughly 9,000-square-foot store in Washington Heights is the first location where Nike has brought some of its proprietary technology into another retailer’s bricks-and-mortar shop.
Total Retail's Take: The pairing of brands to create a stronger, united entity is a growing trend in the retail industry, particularly as companies try to fend off the growing threat of Amazon.com. Foot Locker and Nike have been brand partners for decades, and that relationship has helped to strengthen each individual business. With the launch of Nike's proprietary technology in Foot Locker's Power stores, Nike gets further exposure to consumers who don’t live near a Nike store or who don’t want to shop on Nike.com, and Foot Locker creates a better in-store shopping experience for its customers, hopefully leading to increased traffic and conversions.
