24 |BUILDING DESIGN+CONSTRUCTION | October 2019|TRENDSETTINGPROJECTS|
PUMA’S FLAGSHIP
STORE CREATES
IMMERSIVE
EXPERIENCES FOR
ITS SPORTS-FOCUSED
PATRONS
In August, sportswear giant
Puma opened its first-ever
North American flagship
store in New York City. The
store features 18,000 sf of
interactive spaces over two
floors, and double-height
storefronts across 160 feet
of wraparound frontage.
Germany-based Puma, the
11th-largest supplier of ath-
letic apparel and shoes, has
more than 100 outlet stores
in the U.S. But this location,
on the corner of 49th Street
and Fifth Avenue, is its first
full-size, full-price store.
From this flagship, Puma will
compete with other retailers
with shops on Fifth Avenue,
including Nike, Asics, and
Adidas. Under Armour is also
building a flagship store in
this neighborhood.
The new store showcases
customer-focused technology
in a variety of ways:- A Customization Studio
allows shoppers to custom-
ize and personalize their
footwear, apparel, and ac-
cessories using, among
other things, paints, dips,
dyes, patchwork, embroi-
dery, 3D knitting, laser print-
ing, pinning, and material
“upcycling.” - Customers interested
in motorsports can hop into
professional-grade F1 racing
simulators and race (virtu-
ally, that is) down the streets
of New York City.- Soccer fans can test the
latest Puma-branded boots
on an in-store simulator that
mimics the field pitch of San
Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy,
while being coached virtually
by Puma brand ambassadors
and two pro footballers. - Technology—specifi-
cally iMirror by Nobal, placed
throughout the store—allows
customers to view products
in alternate colors and styles
via RFID-enabled imaging. - In the store’s basketball
zone, customers can enjoy
stadium seating and the
large-screen NBA2K gaming
experience. This area of the
store will also feature QR
codes located on all prod-
ucts. (Puma re-entered the
basketball sector last year,
and is looking to tap into a
growing trend toward fusing
sports and lifestyle apparel.) - On Labor Day, the store
launched Chinatown Market
University, where patrons can
customize products using
Chinatown Market’s printing
technology.
Puma’s internal store
design team worked with De-
sign Republic on the interior
of the new store. Shawmut
Design and Construction was
the project’s GC, and the ex-
terior design was attributed
to Seele. Gable did the A/V
design and installation.
COURTESY PUMA