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Many vendors are opening their own stores. Retailers have expertise operating stores. Why aren’t retailers opening vendor-centric stores? Foot Locker Inc. is a rare retailer doing just that under its Foot Locker, Champ Sports, Footaction and Kids Foot Locker banners.
Last week, Champs Sports partnered with Under Armour to open its second Armoury location at Galleria Dallas in Dallas, TX. The concept stocks the latest Under Armour footwear and apparel releases, accentuated by digital screens displaying a “steady rotation” of graphics featuring the brand’s team of elite athletes.
While Under Armour’s other full-price stores target a broad range of customers, David Heath, SVP, U.S. wholesale at Under Armour, said in a statement that Armoury “is designed to motivate and inspire young athletes.”
The Armoury is part of Foot Locker’s expanding vendor partnership program, which also includes in-store shops such as "The a Standard" with Adidas and Puma Lab.
Not surprisingly, the biggest store partner is Nike, which accounted for 72 percent of all merchandise the retailer purchased in 2015.
At the close of the year, Foot Locker operated 199 House of Hoops, a shop-in-shop concept with numerous stand-alone locations that focuses on basketball-inspired merchandise. Also in collaboration with Nike, Footaction operates the Flight 23 concept that sells only Jordan-brand shoes and apparel, Champs Sports runs Nike Yardline, which focuses on American football, and Kids Foot Locker operates Nike Fly Zone.
At Nike’s investor meeting last year, Elliott Hill, president of Nike’s geographies and sales team, said Nike’s greater experience operating its own stores is helping it come up with targeted in-store and stand-alone shops with its multi-brand retail partners.
Said Mr. Hill, “This discipline of segmenting and differentiating multi-brand retail partners enables us to drive mutually profitable retail and allows us to confidently say, we will continue to expand the multi-brand marketplace at a mid to high single digit rate over the next five years.”
- Champs Sports Creates Immersive Under Armour Experience Through Second ARMOURY At Champs Sports Concept Shop – Foot Locker/Under Armour/Business Wire
- Foot Locker, Inc. 2015 Investor Meeting - March 16, 2015 – Foot Locker
- 2015 Nike, Inc. Investor Meeting – Nike
Photo: Champs Sports/Under Armour