In a nutshell
A vast, data‑driven temple to sport and sneakers, the House of Innovation turns Fifth Avenue into Nike’s test track for personalised, app‑linked retail, where fixtures, floors and even checkout flows are treated as software that can be updated as fast as a product drop.
This store has been at the forefront of flagships since it's "wow" opening in 2018, and through continued investment in staff, activations and product it remains an exemplar.
In their words
“NYC Welcomes Nike NYC
New York doesn’t dream crazy, we dream crazier, we dream bigger, and for us, nothing is big enough. Celebrating the true spirit of New York and the future of sport in the city, New York welcomes Nike NYC, House of Innovation 000 at 650 Fifth Ave New York, NY.
Every floor in Nike NYC will offer unique and immersive experiences designed to serve consumers throughout the entire shopping journey.”
Brand Background
Nike opened the House of Innovation 000 in November 2018 as part of a new generation of flagships, following the first House of Innovation in Shanghai and preceding Paris. Fifth Avenue’s original Niketown (opened in the mid‑1990s and closed in 2017) had established the precedent of theatrical, museum‑like sneaker retail; the new store is positioned as a “call to an origin, a centre point for what a flagship store can be for its city,” according to the Fifth Avenue Association, with President of Nike Direct Heidi O’Neill describing it as an “only‑here Nike experience.” At 68,000 square feet across six levels (including a below‑street floor), the store is one of Nike’s largest globally and a cornerstone of its direct‑to‑consumer growth strategy.
Design and architecture media frame the House of Innovation as a carefully orchestrated retail experience rather than pure spectacle. Wallpaper* points to terrazzo floors flecked with recycled Nike cleats, lounge‑like fitting rooms and layered storytelling about design and sustainability as examples of Nike using material and narrative detail to justify the store’s “temple” status on a heavily touristed stretch of Fifth Avenue. Metropolis calls it “a temple to shopping in the digital age,” while Forbes named it the “Best Retail Experience of 2018,” quoting Nike senior creative director Andy Thaemert: “What we wanted to do is respond to the idea that all retail is moving from transactional to experiential.” For retail professionals, the House of Innovation is now a canonical case study in experience‑driven flagship design, showing how a global brand can turn a store into a constantly updating platform for product, data, membership and service rather than a static showroom.
Visit Field notes
The store is a riot of people, noise, 2-floor suspended audio-visual “Sputnik” sound system, with greeters, see-though basketball court (sport changes seasonally, customisation areas, animated greeters (high-fiving all visitors, whooping and rushing around and the noise of people, people, people!
The staffing is high, store fit is high and regularly refreshed, and the commitment to maintaining the experience is impressive.
Whether collecting online orders, trying product, learning from expert staff, customising or simply enjoying hanging out (or trying the tutorials and sports clinics, Nike have succeeded in creating a destination that can be visited regularly without tiring of the experience.
The mobile app is well-integrated into the store experience and is worth downloading before your visit.
Architecturally, the building is wrapped in a slumped, bubble‑like glass façade inspired by Nike’s Air technology, designed to “disrupt New York’s concrete canyon” and act as a glowing billboard for the brand. Inside, each floor is conceived as a modular environment that can be quickly reconfigured: the ground‑floor Arena is a flexible launch space whose floor tiles and fixtures can be rearranged to host new concepts, while the Sneaker Lab is billed as “the world’s largest Nike footwear floor,” with interactive digital displays and deep walls of product including exclusive LeBron and Jordan releases. A lower‑ground “Speed Shop” serves locals with grab‑and‑go essentials based on online and app data for the surrounding ZIP codes, echoing a convenience store in layout but populated with top‑selling Nike items.
The flagship is also a live testbed for Nike’s digital ecosystem. Shoppers are encouraged to use the Nike app to unlock services: Scan to Try lets customers scan a shoe and have their size brought to a fitting room; Shop the Look pulls full outfits from mannequins; Instant Checkout allows app‑only self‑checkout at scattered stations, bypassing queues entirely. On the top floor, the Nike Expert Studio offers one‑to‑one sessions by appointment for styling, fit and head‑to‑toe kit building, merging personal shopping with coaching. Analysts highlight the store as a benchmark in integrating digital and physical journeys, noting how it accommodates both high‑touch and zero‑interaction preferences: customers can choose full staff support, app‑only navigation or something in between.
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