Nike Using Super Bowl, Global Events To Showcase Los Angeles Retail Diversity

When Super Bowl 56 MVP Cooper Kupp caught the game-winning touchdown in SoFi Stadium in Inglewood wearing a pair of custom Nike cleats, it was just one small part of the brand’s plan to use Los Angeles as a growth point. 

Home to the company’s original store when Nike was known as Blue Ribbon Sports, Los Angeles has remained a focus for the brand in the past 50 years. The modern iteration of Nike in L.A., though, has taken a diverse business approach, mixing retail styles, community investments and staff offices to put a distinct emphasis on L.A. Hosting a Super Bowl—and in the next few years the College Football Playoff, Olympics in 2028 and likely the World Cup—gives Nike a chance to highlight the growth of their L.A. strategy.

“There is a lot of heritage here,” says Vanessa Garcia-Brito, Nike’s vice present of communications for North America. “(World-stage events) are great because they bring the energy. It is almost a platform for connectivity.” 

And connecting consumers to product is always a goal. Nike does that in L.A. with a diversity of retailing options across 10 stores, including a community-focused store in Watts, a Nike Live design in Glendale and a flagship retail space for “all Angelinos to come through” at The Grove. Nike also just opened its new L.A. headquarters for staff in 2022, a 65,000-square-foot campus that makes it one of the Oregon-based brand’s largest headquarters. 

Retail Concepts

The Nike Live concept started in Los Angeles, first in 2018 with Nike by Melrose, then Nike by Long Beach in 2019 and the latest, Nike by Glendale in 2020. The most digitally enabled design in the Nike portfolio, the stores offer online-to-offline services, allowing consumers to buy online and pick up in the store, digital returns and curbside pick-up. Nike members can also set up one-on-one texting sessions with staff to get recommendations on product or come into the store to see the latest retails styles, especially for female shoppers. 

“We are trying to stay really responsive to the changing trends, staying really active,” Garcia-Brito says. “We are learning more about her, trying to be really agile and responsive.” 

The Nike Live concept is growing. Already with three spots in L.A., three in New York City and two in San Francisco, expect Nike to open more throughout 2022. The Glendale location has been especially popular for female consumers, Garcia-Brito says. Nike has seen consumers purchase something online, sometimes to make sure it doesn’t sell out, and then try it on at the store before taking it home. She says customers also want to purchase one thing online and then go into the store to see how it looks with other products. 

Focusing on specific communities is nothing new for Nike, having done so in a handful of locations around the world. But using the Nike Community Ambassador Program and the Nike Community Investment Fund, the two community stores in L.A., the 2020-opened Watts location, and an East Los Angeles spot, highlight the ability of store employees to interact with the community. Nike compensates employees who volunteer in the local community and train staff so they are equipped on how to create more inclusive play to ensure the youth of the community get the best experience possible. The stores host community events and clinics. 

Nike also uses its grant program to dole out money to the community, distributed with the help of the staff, “providing direction in their local communities, which is pretty cool,” Garcia-Brito says. The two stores give $50,000 annually in grants. To add to the donations, in February Nike announced Black Community Commitment grants to Los Angeles organizations Read Lead and Our Own Non-Profit, both for $50,000; ThinkWatts Foundation and Children Striving Together, both for $40,000; and $35,000 each for Yetunde Prince Resource Center and LA Jets Track Club. 

The Grove, the flagship retail location within Los Angeles, tries to offer something for everyone. Opened in 2015 as the then-largest Nike store on the West Coast, it has a focus on a larger retail offering, but mixed with experiences that fit the moment. During the prelude to the Super Bowl part of the space opened to a Nike By You customization space for football jerseys and shoes, an EA Madden lounge, a tunnel run experience and even a manicure station. 

The space shifts with the community, using major events, such as the Super Bowl, to showcase specific product, but also able to highlight new products alongside experiences at other times, such as in December when Nike’s new dance line took center stage inside The Grove. 

Nike in L.A.

The Nike history in L.A. has been in place since 1967 when Blue Ribbon Sports opened its first retail location on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica. Since that time the Nike Cortez launched in L.A., Nike entered Hollywood endorsements and made moves to land on movie screens, launched Nike SB in the city and now sponsors eight of the city’s professional sports teams. 

Garcia-Brito says that with consumers shopping in all the different dimensions, having multiple ways to interact with the consumer in the Nike marketplace, whether online, in a connected store or a traditional retail experience, simply keeps them connected to Nike. And in Los Angeles, where the foundation LA84 says 82% of L.A. youth play at least one sport, there’s extra incentive to connect. 

“You get to curate your experience on your terms,” Garcia-Brito says. “You get to decide how much you want to be connected to the community, which community and what kind of relationship you want.” 

With a mix of retail spaces continuing to grow in Los Angeles, Nike’s new LA HQ offers a “big playground” to back that growth. 

“It is a key city for us,” Garcia-Brito says. “It is really important to have that as part of our heritage. I don’t think we have ever questioned if there should be an L.A. HQ, it seems so natural to be part of the family. When we think about the future of sport, L.A. is going to be continuously a big part of that.”