Nike invited Sole Retriever to fly down to Mexico to cover the grand opening of their new flagship store in the heart of Mexico City. The following is based on firsthand experience and perspective from our team who was on the ground in CDMX!
The Grand Opening
When you enter Nike’s new Mexico City flagship store—the first of its kind in Latin America, 22,000 square feet and housing a Jordan Brand World of Flight store in the building—the first thing you’re greeted with is a set of coordinates. It’s a nice touch for a unique flagship store, sure, but also bears greater significance considering its placement. Mexico City rests at elevation, high above sea level. When you are there you are higher, you are floating, you are in a sense airborne. A few steps forward brings you to World of Flight, a house dedicated to His Airness, while the store’s further stories contain Nike’s signature innovation, the foundation of their technology and their ethos: Air. A greeting sign becomes at once a reminder of where you are and a mission statement. It’s this sort of intentionality that makes the company’s endeavor in Mexico City unique rather than Just Another Store. It can’t be just another store, after all. It’s a landmark location for the brand and a marker of intent for things to come.
Nike's Expansion into Latin America
The Mexico City store is the first step in Nike’s ongoing mission to expand their reach in Latin America. Nike VP/GM of Latin America Doug Bowles notes in our interview that the store is opening as the fiscal year wraps and that the numbers in the division are incredibly strong, proving that the momentum for a big push is there. The potential is bubbling. The sneaker scene in the region is thriving, as is its dedication to sport—soccer is king down there and the store’s offerings reflect this, with the third floor featuring substantial space dedicated to Nike’s sponsored soccer teams and especially Liga MX juggernauts Club America. Bowles notes that Nike has found that Mexico City is the focal point of emerging trends and culture in Mexico, making it the perfect place to stake their claim in Latin America.
Limited Releases, Exclusive Drops, and J. Balvin Restock
“This store is going to get all the good stuff,” Bowles shared with a laugh. It’s necessary, after all—you can’t turn a region or even a flagship store into a hub for culture while only stocking it with general releases. The World of Flight floor of the facility features a dedicated space for hotly anticipated drops and screens next to it advertise a release calendar of all of the major Air Jordan releases currently listed on the SNKRS app. The day the store opened to the general public a rerelease of the J. Balvin Air Jordan 3 ‘Rio’ anchored the festivities and sold out quickly. And speaking of that public opening, it looked to be all the success the brand could have asked for and then some. I can’t personally attest to what it was like in the store that day due to the fact that multiple lines of thousands of people snaked throughout El Centro and around the block housing the flagship store. Anybody who purchased something from the store that day likely waited hours, perhaps several hours, to do so.
Bowles also addressed the question of potential exclusives or early access in the store. All eyes the week of the release were on the leak of the upcoming Air Jordan 5 ‘El Grito,’ a sneaker designed in homage to Mexico’s revolution for independence. While he didn’t name specific sneakers, he confirmed that the store would feature early access to hotly-anticipated releases, especially those which connect to Mexican and Latinx culture. The first of these early drops, he says, would come in August—coincidentally just a few weeks before the ‘El Grito’ drop, which is currently slated for September.
About The CDMX Location
For the brand, making sure this endeavor got off to a good start began with location. The store was built in a historic building in the heart of CDMX’s El Centro neighborhood, on a street that sees 350,000 people walk through it daily. It should be said here that Mexico City is famous for its architecture, both modern and historical, with many older buildings preserved in form but converted into new use (numerous times on my visit there I passed an Apple Store housed in what was clearly a church some hundred-plus years ago). As such, they prioritized preserving the exterior of the location. Only the interior was converted.
A Community-Centered Cultural Hub
This couldn’t just be any other Nike flagship store, though. The brand wants the Mexico City store to serve not just as a retail location but as a cultural hub in the area for years to come. “The community this store services…I think they want community as well, to connect with like-minded people. I think this store has potential to become a hub where people come together and connect with each other. They want to be a part of it, they want to see themselves represented in what Nike does.” Bowles shared with us. It is the house through which all things Nike will pass in Mexico for the foreseeable future, sure, but it’s designed with the intention of reflecting community as much as it is shaping it. Each floor is filled with art from creators who live in Mexico City. There’s a line of store-exclusive tees and hoodies featuring font and logos designed by a local artist. At the friends and family opening the crowd was made up of everyone from Nike executives to mural artists to musicians, the sort of creative figures that have made Mexico City’s art scene one of the more vibrant and thriving ones in the entire world.
The brand's commitment to the community in Mexico City doesn't end when you exit through the doors of the store, either. They're working closely with TRASO, a community organization dedicated to providing at-risk youth with access to both sport and therapy. The morning before the friends and family opening Nike brought media to a gym the group uses in Mexico City's Tacuyaba neighborhood to show us firsthand the joy sport brings to kids of all ages. Concrete community building can't be exclusive to a transaction at a register. The brand has big ideas when it comes to leaving a mark on Mexico City.
The result of that work and intention is something that doesn’t just feel like another Nike store. It is a portrait of community, one that will shift and grow over time as the city it represents does.
