Foot Locker powers up with new mega stores

Foot Locker plans to open dozens of “power” stores across the U.S., teaming up with Nike to do it, reports Lauren Thomas of CNBC.(https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/09/foot-locker-is-opening-massive-power-stores-across-the-us-with-nike.html)

These so-called power stores are four times as big as a typical Foot Locker store in malls. The newest will open Saturday in New York in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.

The retailer plans to open upwards of 50 such stores over the next three years. It has three in the U.S. today: one in Detroit and two in Philadelphia. 

The roughly 9,000-square-foot store in Washington Heights is the first location where Nike has brought some of its proprietary technology into another retailer’s bricks-and-mortar shop. At the store, Nike’s loyalty members can scan a bar code within their Nike app to get free swag like sunglasses, purchase exclusive products and have the chance to win a free pair of sneakers.

Nike is Foot Locker’s biggest brand partner. And Foot Locker is also one of Nike’s biggest wholesalers. Foot Locker says it purchased about two-thirds of its merchandise from Nike in 2017 and 2018.

“Our approach is definitely to understand how the technology and the consumer behaves within [the Power store],” said Frank Bracken, vice president of Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker and Lady Foot Locker. 

He said the company plans to put additional locations in “undeserved communities,” where there’s a strong “sneaker culture.”

Foot Locker said in its latest annual filing it plans to increase spending through its capital program to $275 million in 2019 from $187 million last year, with most of that increase devoted to it building more power stores.

(Photo of Foot Locker’s new power store in Washington Heights.)