Bethany Biron/Business Insider
The new Foot Locker store in Washington Heights.
- Nike partnered with Foot Locker on a new
retail concept for its third community-centric Power Store, which opened Saturday in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood. - The store features integrated in-store technology powered by Nike through its app. Shoppers can use it to receive free giveaways, early access to limited-edition sneakers, and real-time inventory information.
- We visited the store in advance of its official public opening. This is what it was like.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Foot Locker opened the doors to its third community-focused Power Store, teaming with Nike in a partnership that integrates the brand's proprietary technology into the new store concept.
The store - which opened to the public on August 10 in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood - includes a variety of new features, including the ability to search for and reserve products on the Nike app either in-store or at home. The app also provides shoppers with access to special perks when visiting the physical store, including the ability to select an item from the Nike Plus Unlock Box - a vending machine filled with Nike-branded goodies like sunglasses and chargers - as well as access to limited-edition sneakers via the Nike Shoecase.
Throughout the store, users can also scan barcodes to pull up additional information and real-time inventory from Nike and Foot Locker stores in the vicinity.
Read more: These are the 10 best-selling sneakers of the year so far
In tandem with the opening of the Washington Heights store, Nike and Foot Locker announced plans to open 50 Power Stores in the U.S. in the next three years. This is the first time Nike has lent its digital capabilities to a partner in this capacity, Ann Hebert, vice president of global sales at Nike, told Business Insider.
"We want to get to know consumers better so that we can serve them better," Hebert said. "Footlocker's got amazing relationships here locally in the community, and we want to take advantage of that. Consumers in this community love Nike and we love them back, so we're bringing our technology here as part of our network strategy."
We visited the new Washington Heights Foot Locker Power Store in advance of its official public opening. Here's what it's like.