Dive Brief:

• In an expansion of its Nike Rise concept, the athletics retailer opened its Nike Aventura store in Miami on Thursday. The location is the first Nike Rise store in the U.S. and “signals the next stage of our retail expansion in North America,” according to an announcement emailed to Retail Dive.
• Within Nike Aventura, the brand will feature Sport Pulse, a digital storytelling platform that has become a feature of Rise stores. The screens display local sports, city and athlete data, including from the retailer’s Nike Training Club and Nike Run Club apps, as well as local sports content.
• Nike Aventura will also feature The Sport Hub, where shoppers can return items, pick up their online purchases, scan items for product information and use their SNKRS Pass, per the announcement.

Dive Insight:

Nike is adding the first North America location to its Nike Rise portfolio with the opening of Nike Aventura. The retailer also has Rise stores in Seoul, South Korea, and London, and tested the concept in Guangzhou, China in 2020. 

The Miami store mimics the other locations, offering features like a Nike By You space, where shoppers can get customized sneakers and apparel. Nike noted in its announcement that the Nike Aventura location in Miami has the largest retail space for bras and leggings of all its stores in North America.

“We are scaling our investment in every facet of our retail business to increase access to sport and inspire, connect and serve athletes through curated digital and physical experiences,” David Kelsay, vice president of North America Stores, said in a statement. “Digital drives everything from consumer insights, store design, online-to-offline services, in-store fitness experiences, and workouts via our digital app ecosystem, and our aim is to create digitally enabled and differentiated retail experiences to create seamless shopping and fitness journeys for our consumers across our marketplace.”

Nike Rise is just one of a number of digitally focused store concepts Nike has rolled out over the years. In July, Nike opened its first Nike Style store in Seoul, which emphasized gender-agnostic products ranging from fleece and tops to footwear and accessories. Similar to the Miami location, the store featured tech touches such as QR codes that unlocked augmented reality experiences, and a content studio.

The company’s Nike Live format, which personalizes product at the neighborhood level, has expanded over the years as well. Last year, the company unveiled a Nike Live store at its hometown in Eugene, Oregon, with new product assortments dropping every three weeks. Nike has Live stores in cities including Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo.