SNEAKER CENTRAL: Adidas Finds A Fifth Avenue Spot For Its North American Flagship

Though it appears to have converted the entire city to Stan Smith and Superstar devotees in the past year, sneaker giant Adidas has been playing a catch-up game on the retail front in New York City. Since Niketown landed on East 57th Street, its arch-rival has been carefully colonizing the city with a more exclusive Sportswear store, an even more exclusive appointment only Fitness studio and Nike Running stores around the city, along with various pop-ups when appropriate. Adidas, however has contented itself with an Originals store on Wooster Street (soon to move to new digs on Spring Street) and a brand flagship not far away at Broadway and Houston Street. Things will change, however, in about a year when, according to the Observer, the brand finally ventures north to Midtown to unveil a 34,000 square foot North American Flagship store on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 46th Street. Once an HMV superstore (remember those?), and most recently a Build-a-Bear Workshop, the store will be twice the size of the current Broadway store across three floors, but more importantly, it will be better positioned to capture all that precious tourist traffic. It is projected to open in late 2016, by which time, the once moribund stretch of Fifth Avenue between 42nd and 49th Street will be even further along in its ongoing upgrade from second string location to a Varsity-level retail mix.

Adidas Nabs 34K-SF East Midtown Space for New North American Flagship (Commercial Observer)