By Laura Porter
London Travel Expert, about.com
Nike Town London is in an imposing building on the north east corner
of Oxford Circus in central London. This opened as the UK's flagship Nike store in 1999 here on the corner of Oxford Street and Regent Street.
The heritage building dates back to the redevelopment of Regent Street in the early twentieth century.
[post_ads_2]
Nike
is a worldwide household name and it's interesting to read how a Greek
myth has become the name of this sports and fitness powerhouse. This US
company grew from an informal deal in 1964 between University of Oregon track
coach Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, a middle-distance runner. The name
was dreamed up by the company's first ever salesperson in 1971. The
swoosh trademark was patented and is now recognised across the world.
Nike continually offers new design classics and some of the Nike shoes have been best-selling for years.
There has been some negative publicity about their third world manufacturing and the Jonah Peretti's Nike 'Sweatshop' Email from 2001 is still remembered.
But Nike's "Just Do It" slogan is immensely motivational and has inspired many more motivational quotes from Nike slogans.
Three Floors
There
are three floors of shopping above the ground floor welcome area.
Seriously, on one of the most expensive streets for retail space in
London NikeTown has no products on the ground floor. It can, therefore,
seem a bit intimidating to wander in and see the 'welcome staff' but
stroll past and you can get the escalator up to Level 1.
Level 1
Level
1 has Running, Training, and Football gear. The Football section is on
the middle and you can get shirt printing and do a boot trial here too.
Level 2
Level 2 has Golf, Tennis, and Basketball gear, with an area to shoot hoops.
Level 3
[post_ads]This
is a large store (70,000 sq ft, I'm told) and it has the largest
women's sports clothing and footwear area in Europe. Level 3 is
dedicated to women's sportswear.
In the Running section you can do
a run analysis to ensure you buy the best shoes for you. Nike is more
than just a sportswear store as each floor offers specialist services
such as a Run Coach Service to set up a personalized running program for
you. Nike Town has special events, such as athlete talks, and there's a
popular running club and training club too.
You can custom design your own personalized and unique footwear in the ID space with Nike staff available to help one-to-one.
In-House DJ
And there's a loud soundtrack to your shopping experience as there are in-house DJs spinning tunes.
Customer Service
Reports
are variable on customer service but when it's good it's really good.
It is a large store and gets busy and that may be when it's harder to
get the assistance you need. Or when staff are bored and are too busy
trying out the equipment themselves.
No 'Souvenirs'
If you
are looking to buy something related to English sports or English teams
you won't have any luck here which is a shame but, I guess, they don't
want the 'tourist shoppers'.
[post_ads_2]
[post_ads_2]
Contact Details
Address: 236 Oxford Street, London W1C 1DE
Telephone Number: 020 7612 0800
Nearest Tube Station: Oxford Circus
Use the Citymapper app or Journey Planner to plan your route via public transport.
Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday: 10am - 9pm
Saturday: 9am - 9pm
Sunday: 11:30am - 6pm ( browsing only until 12pm)
Official Website: www.nike.com/london
