Hoka Flagship Store in New York City Expands Beyond Running

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Amid the bouncing beats of a live DJ, runners arrive and mingle at 579 5th Avenue in the heart of New York City’s Diamond District for a grand opening gala full of sparkle and shine.

Walking into the new Hoka NYC flagship retail store, individuals gaze at a vibrant mix of modern running couture, a massive faux rock formation intended to represent the French Alps, and imagery of a diverse range of people running all over the walls. The new 9,000-square-foot store, which opened on June 7, is intended to be both a beautifully designed retail space—with a massive shoe wall displaying Hoka’s latest models and merchandising fixtures and shelves showing off its colorful summer apparel palettes—and a gathering place for local and visiting runners. The fully finished basement has a large space with lockers, sizable bathrooms and plenty of room for post-run stretching, yoga classes, run group gatherings, workshops, and guest speaker events.

It’s a stunning retail store that represents both an earnest pursuit to connect with runners in New York City (and to get their business, of course), and also a stamp of legitimacy on Hoka’s ascendency to the upper echelon of the running industry.

It’s a big move for the brand, and it took about a year from the time Hoka acquired the space to design, construct, and open the store. Brooke Lord , Hoka’s vice president and general manager, says Hoka made this big investment to provide a full brand experience to committed runners, general consumers, non-runners, and tourists alike, as well as a way to showcase both its latest technical innovations and fashion-forward products to a wider audience.

While you can find all of Hoka’s current running shoes in the new store, you can also buy those models in a wider variety of colorways—including the trendy all-white versions of the Hoka Clifton 9 that, although are still performance running shoes, are part of another trend of mainstream consumers wearing running shoes for everyday casual wear because they’re comfortable and in vogue. Hoka also sells its lifestyle hoodies, recovery slides, hiking boots, bucket hats, and casual NYC-themed Hoka T-shirts, all of which might appeal to fitness enthusiasts, tourists, and random passersby more than core runners.

Every shoe on the store wall has a QR code that a customer can scan for more information, and those who want to go deeper can work with a sales associate to get their feet digitally scanned, wear-test shoes on a treadmill, or sign up for running workshops and community-building group runs the store has started hosting.

“You really get the feel of the brand from the moment you walk in,” says Kate Glavan, a 25-year-old running influencer and Hoka ambassador who leads group runs for the brand throughout Manhattan, including a weekly run from the store. “I think sometimes when you go into a store, it doesn’t really feel like it’s much more than just looking at products. But I think all the unique features—like the rock details, the bright colors, the treadmill, the big space downstairs, the technology, and all of the running visuals—really bring you into the Hoka world. It’s crazy big, and I just think it’s beautifully designed too.”

Running Reboot

The store is Hoka’s eighth stand-alone shop, but it’s the brand’s first flagship store. Hoka has had a presence in the city via specialty retail shops for years and has operated a temporary pop-up retail shop about a mile and a half away. But this is more than just another retail shop. It’s another level of sophistication and cool.

And it’s also part of a growing trend of running brands trying to control the look, feel, and vibe of the consumer experience with exquisitely designed concept shops.

“This is kind of our pinnacle, elevated expression of our retail fleet,” Lord says. “Obviously it’s a milestone achievement for us to have our first flagship presence right here in New York City. We view it as an opportunity to build brand awareness, and connect more directly with consumers about the joy of movement.”How people are embracing their own joy of movement is part of a new vibe of the massive growth in running since the pandemic temporarily shut down the world in 2020.

At The Running Event trade show in 2022, industry estimates suggested there are as many as 20 million new runners in the U.S. compared to early 2020, plus about 7 million lapsed runners who came back to actively running at least a few times per month. That group of 27 million newly engaged runners is larger than the estimated 24 million existing runners that had been running consistently heading into 2020.

Numerous reports have suggested that participation has continued to increase as race participation has finally begun to surpass pre-pandemic 2019 totals.

The bottom line is that more people are running recreationally than ever before, and each in their own unique way.

“I think a lot of people are finding running to have much less of a barrier to entry than it might have had before,” said Colin Ingram, Hoka’s vice president of product and apparel. “I think it really is something that everybody’s found. There’s a way that they can approach it that makes it theirs, and they don’t have to emulate what you do, what I do, or what their parents did. It has taken on a completely different look. It isn’t just split shorts and hustling by at a fast mile pace any more. It can be, but there’s so much more now.”

The running retail business is continuing to go through a massive evolution that began 20 years ago, making a shift from catering to faster runners mostly concerned with performance to instead catering to a much wider potential customer base: new runners, novice runners, health-conscious runners and even walkers who recreate for fitness.

Many original from the 1970s and 1980s were sold or remodeled beginning in the early 2010s as the customer base of runners began to change and more advanced retail analytics began to emerge, says Holly Wiese, the founder of 3 Dots Design, a Boulder, Colorado, company that designs running, cycling, and outdoors stores with modern flair.

Wiese and her team use both creative and analytical approaches to lighting, signage, messaging, color palettes, and product placement to optimize traffic flow, visual merchandising, and, ultimately, sales.

There are numerous traditional specialty run shops in New York City, but those stores cater mostly to existing runners. Brand concept shops like the new Hoka store are designed to appeal to anyone and everyone, regardless of how they identify with running or even if they run at all, Wiese says.

“Those other categories of customers have become a larger chunk of their business than they ever were before,” Wiese says.  “And so, when Hoka or another brand wants to come in with their own store, they want to take what’s happened at specialty retail and go even further with it. Even though running stores do everything they can to welcome the average person, however they engage in running, there are still a lot of people who aren’t ever going to walk into a running store or even think about it. But if they’re walking downtown and they see this fun brand store that shows up, it’s going to be very intriguing because it’s casting a wider net of appeal.”

After Nike did away with its NikeTown concept stores about 10 years ago, it opened the Nike House of Innovation NYC in Manhattan (650 5th Avenue) as well as other more immersive shops and Nike Well Collective stores that focus on holistic fitness—movement, mindfulness, nutrition, rest, and community.

On, the Swiss sportswear company, opened a flagship store in Lower Manhattan in late 2020, New Balance has three stores across the city—as well as the New Balance Run Hub at the New York Road Runners’ RunCenter—while Adidas has two all-sports brand concept stores in Manhattan.

But it’s not just big, multinational running brands that are creating immersive experiences.

Last year, Tracksmith, a small Boston-based venture capital-funded brand anchored in the culture of running, opened new brand stores in Brooklyn and London. And two weeks ago, Bandit, a Brooklyn-based indie running apparel and accessories brand, also opened a Manhattan flagship store, which follows the launch of its original Brooklyn store. Located at 328 Bleecker Street in the West Village, the space is dubbed “The Running Room,” and stocks the brand’s full collection of men’s and women’s running and lifestyle apparel and accessories—including a few pieces exclusive to that store—and also features an in-store coffee bar from Rhythm Zero.

“They’re all trying to grab a slightly bigger piece of the pie, and they already are doing everything they can with their partnerships in the specialty run channel,” Wiese says. “With these new brand shops, they’re trying to expand it and get the tourist and the lifestyle consumer perhaps and a person that maybe would never find themselves in the specialty run store.”

RELATED: The Rise of Indie Running Brands

Next-Level Appeal

What’s next? As running shoes start to gain a smidge of cultural foothold that has been increasingly prevalent in the sneaker industry since the mid-1980s, running brands and running stores are cashing in. In running, it started with the retro trend of making modern versions of classic shoes from the 1970s and 80s. But in recent years, brands have been developing secondary silhouettes of popular running models so they look good with jeans or shorts to fit into the athleisure trend or even upscale casual wear.

As such, running stores have gone from small, poorly merchandised mom and pop stores to large, brightly lit retail footprints with modern technological features and thoughtfully crafted aesthetics to create the feeling of curated shopping experiences for just about anybody who walks in the door.

“This store is epic because the ambiance of running is about feeling good even though it’s a tough sport. As soon as you walk in, you feel good,” said Hellah Sidibe, a running influencer and Hoka ambassador, at the opening-night party in New York. “Not only do you feel good about yourself, it makes you want to run. You feel that energy. As soon as I walked, I’m like, ‘Man, I’m feeling good right now.’ That’s what this store made me feel immediately.”