Why athletic apparel stores are becoming more immersive

Sports retailers — especially ones that carry footwear and apparel — are making their stores more interactive at a time in which many people still prefer to buy items in person. According to a recent survey by Gartner, 58% of U.S. consumers would rather shop in-store for clothing, shoes and accessories, compared to 39% for online. Although many companies offer these products at steep discounts online, retailers like Foot Locker and Dick’s Sporting Goods are pouring money into large-scale store redos or experiential store concepts to set themselves apart.

“I think experiential is really the only way to compete as you’re competing against everyone from Temu to Amazon to even direct competitors,” Brad Jashinsky, director analyst at Gartner, told Modern Retail.

Already, the retailers implementing these strategies say they’ve seen success. In May, Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Lauren Hobart said that the company’s “House of Sports” stores — of which there are 14, according to its website — are bringing in more customers. “Athletes are coming in, they’re driving further [sales], they’re spending more time [at ‘House of Sport’],” she said during a recent earnings call. The company reported 3% year-over-year comparable sales growth.

Meanwhile, Foot Locker’s first “Store of the Future” in New Jersey is now one of the company’s top locations in North America. There, Foot Locker has “seen higher traffic, conversion levels and basket sizes” compared to the rest of the chain, CEO Mary Dillon said in May.

Foot Locker’s newly revamped New York City store includes a basketball concept called “Home Court,” an area of the store that was developed with Nike and Jordan but still includes other brands. There are also checkout areas throughout the store (as opposed to a traditional cash wrap), a circular-shaped try-on area called the “Kick It Club,” and a station where shoppers can buy pins, laces and other customizable accessories for their shoes. Women’s merchandise, a bigger focus for Foot Locker, takes up about a quarter of the store.

Bryon Milburn, svp and chief merchandising officer at Foot Locker, told Modern Retail that the company is designing its “Store of the Future” locations to “appeal to a wide range of shoppers” and solidify Foot Locker’s place in sneakers and basketball. “We plan to continue expanding this concept globally, adapting it to different markets while maintaining the core elements that make it successful,” he said.

Foot Locker’s broader “Store of the Future” concept will next come to Melbourne and Delhi. Foot Locker also opened a “Store of the Future” in Paris this year. All are part of the company’s “Lace Up” plan, which it unveiled in March 2023 and involves opening new store formats, shifting to off-mall and shutting more than 400 underperforming locations. Already, Foot Locker redid 13 stores in the first quarter of the year, on top of 100 in the back half of 2023. 

To that point, more brands in general are investing in store revamps to try and bring in more shoppers — and keep them there longer. Banana Republic, for instance, redesigned its Los Angeles store last week to have a styling area and in-house tailor services, while mattress brand Casper updated its Cosa Mesa, California store in February to have a “Snooze Bar” and pillow lab.

These moves are important, Gartner’s Jashinsky said, because retailers tend to have a much higher average basket for in-store sales versus online. “I think a big part of that is having really well-done store layouts and paths throughout the store,” he said. “Maybe you went in there to get shoes, but then you’re also purchasing a shirt, or in Dick’s case, a new baseball bat. There is definitely an art and a science to those store designs.”