It Looks To Be A Big Store

Style On The Dot

Dec 16

But the new Nike flagship does not appear to be ready before Christmas

Three young chaps stood before the hoarding of the new Nike store at the glass-front building 268 Orchard Road. One of them wondered aloud, "When will they open, ah?" The curiosity, even anticipation, is understandable. Nike has not had a major, street-fronting, interior-beckoning store on our island, such as the striking Nike Harajuku in Tokyo. But the Swoosh has not announced when their new retail biggie will be unveiled. We had thought that it could be before Christmas, or before the year-end shopping season ends, but it does not seem to be the case. Will they now bring down the hoarding before Chinese New Year? It is not immediately clear.

Large-scale Nike stores are known to be "experience-based". Online may be the retail strategy for many brands, but Nike has always created stores that are more pro and community spaces than just shells in which to sell apparel and footwear. While the 268 Orchard Road unit may not afford Nike the expanse seen in the stores in the US, such as the New York five-storey behemoth in Soho that occupies 55,000 sq ft (5,100 sqm), it is likely to be big. or large enough to dethrone the Jewel outlet as Southeast Asia's largest. From what can be presently seen, it is at least a two-storey space, with Nike as possibly the sole tenant. With the Swoosh so strategically and prominently placed, will this soon be known, at least popularly, as the Nike Building?

Photo: Chin Boh Kay