Nike Rise Opens In U.S. As Miami Heats Up Urban Store Expansion

Sportswear and equipment giant Nike has opened the first North American location for its Nike Rise format, with the opening of Nike Aventura, as the retailer continues to commit to a multi-concept real estate strategy.

In an expansion of its concept, the athletics retailer chose Miami, Fla. for its first Nike Rise store in the U.S., and the opening marks the beginning of a wider expansion across the U.S. planned for 2023. It also dovetails with Nike’s overarching goal of delivering differentiated and seamless experiences across its digital and physical marketplaces.

Nike already has Rise stores in Seoul, South Korea and London (at Westfield London), having originally tested the concept in Guangzhou, China, back in 2020.

One of the main features of the Nike Rise at the Aventura location is the introduction of Sport Pulse, described as a new digital storytelling platform that “visualizes local sport, city, and athlete data to create one-of-a-kind content within the store.”

Two-story-tall LED screens display real-time sports, campaigns, and city-specific data from programs such as the Nike Run Club apps.

The Sports Hub also provides members services such as digital returns, curbside pick-up, scan to learn, buy online/pickup in-store, and SNKRS pass. For more personalized service.

The Miami store mimics the other locations, offering features like a Nike By You space, where shoppers can get customized sneakers and apparel. Nike also said that the Nike Aventura location in Miami has the largest retail space for bras and leggings of all its stores in North America.

Nike’s new Rise concept adds to other stores in the area including Nike Miami, Nike by Brickell, Nike Factory Store, Miami, and Nike Factory Store, Pembroke Pine.

Nike Rise, Live And Digital Drive

“We are scaling our investment in every facet of our retail business to increase access to sport and inspire, connect and serve athletes through curated digital and physical experiences,” according to David Kelsay, VP of North America Stores at Nike.

“Digital drives everything from consumer insights, store design, online-to-offline services, in-store fitness experiences, and workouts via our digital app ecosystem, and our aim is to create digitally enabled and differentiated retail experiences to create seamless shopping and fitness journeys for our consumers across our marketplace.”

In fact, Nike Rise is just one of a number of digitally focused store concepts Nike has rolled out over the years. In July, Nike debuted its first Nike Style store in Seoul, which emphasizes gender-agnostic products and featured in-store tech such as QR codes that unlocked augmented reality experiences, plus a content studio.

The company’s Nike Live format, which personalizes product at the neighborhood level, has also expanded over recent years and in 2021 the company unveiled a Nike Live store at hometown Eugene, Oregon, with new product assortments dropping every three weeks. Nike also has Live stores in cities including Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo.

Nike Four-Pronged Formats

Nike opened its first Rise format in a Western market at Westfield London in July, with a 17,000 sq ft store as part of the sports retailer’s investment in its four-prong store strategy as it ramped up its online and direct-to-consumer businesses.

VP EMEA Nike Direct, Cathy Sparks, discussing the role of stores, says that the company is targeting 40% of sales to be via online and digital by 2025, but says Nike is committed to its 7,000 strong stores network globally, of which 500 stores are owned or franchised across the EMEA.

She insists bricks and mortar will continue to play a “key role”, with new initiatives to engage by scaling its flagship house of innovation format located in Paris, Shanghai and New York City; Nike Rise, its city format; Nike Live, aimed at neighborhood locations; and Nike Unite, targeted at the community, “bringing sport to many communities that desperately need it”.

Another major element of Nike’s initiatives for growth is building lasting relationships through membership: “Membership is at the core and a fundamental driver to our business and to the experience, regardless of the channel. It helps drive engagement with the brand and build communities around sport. We know that the members that interact with two or more have dramatically higher lifetime value,” according to Sparks.

The digital strategy goes across four main offers: Nike.com – “our most democratic entrance point”; Nike app, tailored to members; Nike’s Sneakers app and its Activity apps. The company is also investing in QR codes, plus use of the app to save a customer’s purchase history, plus more digital services, while store-based Nike Community Ambassadors are paid to help train sports in their local community.

“Consumers expect an ongoing conversation with brands. We’re pushing delivery of connected at scale, with our brand amplified by working with partners, allowing exclusive offers,” she says. “The pandemic was a stress test, going more direct and digital. Our playbook is working.”