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Nov 13, 2023

I Compared the Nike and Adidas Flagship Stores in NYC

You don't need to be a sneakerhead to own at least one pair of Adidas or Nike

You don't need to be a sneakerhead to own at least one pair of Adidas or Nike shoes — or maybe one of each — as well as a cache of athletic apparel from both brands. The two multibillion-dollar, multinational corporations have continuously blazed trails and faced challenges as they continue building their respective empires.

Nike remains the industry powerhouse, with $46.7 billion in sales in its most recent fiscal year. Adidas reported $21.2 billion in 2021 sales.

The companies' Manhattan stores are at the leading edges of their bricks-and-mortar retail strategies and often preview technologies and features that will roll out to other locations.

With that in mind I felt it was worth visiting both flagship locations to compare the shopping experience. Follow my trek through these retail palaces.

The store is equidistant from Times Square and Grand Central Station. It's on the corner of 46th Street and Fifth Avenue in a bustling neighborhood that drives much of the city's tourism. The store opened in December 2016 and spans 45,000 square feet.

The store's design is based on Adidas' "stadium retail concept," which takes inspiration from US high school sports stadiums, Insider previously reported. The Adidas store's tunnel, albeit a little underwhelming, did make me feel like I was about to enter a stadium.

I visited in late October and again in early November, and upon exiting the tunnel, I saw the theme was not football, but soccer, in anticipation of the FIFA World Cup, which kicked off Nov. 20 in Qatar. Adidas, which is an official FIFA World Cup supplier, had outfitted its first-floor displays and mannequins with soccer jerseys of all stripes and colors. I'd safely assume every team playing for the cup was well-represented inside the Adidas flagship store during my visits.

The Adidas flagship store offers real-time fitness consultations from EXOS trainers, healthy juices and snacks co-created with Brooklyn-based Grass Roots Juicery, a concierge desk, a same-day hotel delivery service, personalized shopping experiences such as the Run Genie gait analysis tool, and more.

An employee told me the foosball table was there for the World Cup.

It's fall in New York City and I'm sporting black joggers and sweats everywhere I go. I've always been a fan of the Adidas tracksuit look, and how it's evolved within popular culture in the US: from Run-DMC to the deep-teal tracksuits on Netflix's "Squid Game."

In 2016, the Superstar was the top-selling sneaker in the US in terms of dollar sales, according to The NPD Group. But its popularity diminished. Sales of the Superstars fell by $565 million from 2017 to 2018, Insider reported.Still, I say nothing beats timeless style.

Adidas has given its Forum 84 Low AEC shoes a "well-loved look" to reflect a bygone era.

Adidas reportedly is expected to lose $246 million in profit this year after terminating its Yeezy partnership, Insider reported. It's estimated that Yeezy generated $1.7 billion in annual revenues for Adidas — 8% of Adidas' total sales in 2021.

I saw several people carrying Argentina national team jerseys. The men's section had far more variety, tracksuits, and foot traffic compared with the other floors. I'd almost describe the environment as lively.

There were birds of paradise designs, pants with crisscross seams on the sides, yoga tracksuit pants, and sky-blue pants with three orange stripes.

Growing up I didn't associate Adidas with high fashion, but seeing these shoes showed me that the brand is evolving, for better or worse.

Knowing that "Rick and Morty" is such a popular show across the world, I think these collaborations are a smart idea for Adidas.

There are also elevators on each floor for customers who have mobility challenges or prefer to skip the extra steps.

Nike's flagship store has two more floors than the Adidas store. It occupies 68,000 square feet of prime real estate on Manhattan's famed Fifth Avenue.

At 4:30 p.m. the store was almost overflowing with people going in and out.

The display features Nike cofounders Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, and honors the legacies of female athletes like world-famous runners Jacqueline Hansen and Joan Benoit. I liked seeing the mishmash of Nike artifacts, but think they could have been strategically placed elsewhere in the store. Because they're located at the entrance, you can't really stop for too long without potentially disrupting traffic flow.

Shoe models were incorporated into futuristic displays that looked like they could belong on the surface of Mars. I felt like this theme could be enjoyed by all athletes, as opposed to Adidas' soccer setup.

It seemed like a small area relative to the rest of the store, and I wondered if bottleneck situations are common at this checkout point.

It seems like Adidas and Nike are going head to head with their apparel, with Nike also offering New York City-branded clothing, but with what I felt like are bolder designs.

Many of the visitors were international tourists. I most often heard French and Spanish being spoken at the store.

The sports bras seemed to be made with better materials, and were pricier than the Adidas sports bras.

These watches are aesthetically different from other Apple Watches, with unique bands and watch faces. I thought it was interesting that the watches were placed on the second floor in the women's section and wondered if they were trying to target women.

I did notice that black and neon green were common color schemes for men's apparel.

The music seemed more deafening here, and the chatter was at its loudest in the store on my visit so far.

The bright-white light really brought out the displays and kept my energy level up. There were shoppers waiting around for their shoes, while others were checking out the displayed models. It looked like a museum.

It was one of my favorite parts of the Sneakerlab because of its ingenuity and innovation. I thought it was a great way to engage with customers.

The lab takes same-day appointments for 30-minute time slots, but you have to schedule in-person on the 5th floor. The costs run from $3 for small graphics, to $7 for medium, and $8 for large.

I still enjoyed checking out what amenities were offered for NikePlus members.

Both times I visited, there were people in the middle of their projects and designing sweatshirts with small graphics.

The integrity of the AF1s, Js, and Dunks were preserved in these teeny-size versions.

The interior designs, for one, were vastly different: Adidas went for stadium appeal — clearly catering to its soccer fans — while Nike went for multidimensional outer-space vibes.

As for retail offerings, I felt like I could go to Adidas for fitness wear and Nike for their street style and shoes.

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