Salomon has a big runway ahead for store growth in the U.S. market.
The brand is expanding its presence through a store strategy that could see it opening future stores in Miami, Washington, D.C., Boston and San Francisco, according to Steve Doolan, Salomon’s president and general manager of the Americas, in a telephone interview. He said the brand is actively scouting for store locations at those cities.
“We’re going to be really thoughtful in terms of what’s the location, how’s it going to represent the brand, and we obviously want to make sure that [we are] opening stores that are profitable with leases that [will] allow us operate our business in a responsible way,” Doolan said.
The average store size is between 2,000 and 3,000 square feet, about two-thirds of that in the front of house and the rest in the back. “Obviously, we have to inventory quite a few pairs of shoes, and they do take up a good amount of space,” he said.
The brand has a dedicated team scouting locations. Most doors take about three months to renovate once the brand takes possession of the space, but that could depend on the individual condition of the location. Some locations could take less time.
As for four-wall profitability, Doolan said: “Honestly, every store that we have signed at this point is profitable.”
The sneaker brand is already slated to open a new store on the Upper West Side in a few months and one in Beverly Hills, possibly as early as Oct. 1.
And there’s a former Arc’teryx store that’s in the Flatiron district in Manhattan on Fifth Ave. and 21st Street that’s slated to become a Salomon store at the beginning of July. (Both brands are owned by Amer Sports.) This location is strategically across from a new Arc’teryx store that opened up.
The brand also took over a former Arc’teryx store in Los Angeles on Melrose Ave. Both Salomon and Arc’teryx are owned by Amer Sports. He said the former Arc’teryx stores are “in great shape” and that allows Salomon “to move in quickly.”
Doolan described the U.S. store presence as a “nascent business” that, while still in its infancy, represents one component of a three channel strategy that includes wholesale, e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores. In contrast, the brand has a bigger store presence across Europe, and in China, where there are both company-owned stores and partnered-stores, which were in existence before Salomon embarked on store openings in the region.
The brand on March 6 opened its Casa Salomon flagship in Mexico City, the first of multiple store openings in key markets in Latin America. There are already over 25 locations across Mexico. But Casa Salomon is different from other locations. In addition to acting as a community hub for customers — there’s a Salomon Café and lockers that serve as a home base for runner to store their belongings before heading out to a run — the space at Calle Valladolid No. 80 in Roma Norte also has a second floor that serves as a “showroom above the store” and allows for meetings between the Salomon team and its B2B partners.
As for future stores, Doolan said the showroom is not on the agenda nor will they all have the exact same community hub features, just as they won’t necessarily be part of the Epicenter strategy.
Epicenter was developed by Amer Sports and includes wholesale distribution to key department store retailers to elevate the brand’s presence and global awareness.
“One of the things that we really need to be intentional about is not everywhere is an epicenter,” Doolan said. He cited examples of epicenter locations, such as New York and Los Angeles for the U.S., Paris and Milan for Europe, Tokyo and Shanghai for Asia and Mexico City for Latin America.
“They’re truly where there is an intersection of culture, even sport, and an energy and a creativity that comes out of it. And we want to be very clear that that is an epicenter,” he said. “Chicago, as an example, is an incredible city but would we consider that one of our global epicenters? No. Do we think it’s a critical hub for our business in totality? Yeah, absolutely.”
The company opened its Bucktown location in Chicago in late August. Like other Salomon locations, it features an extensive offering of the brand’s sportstyle and performance products, designed with distinct zones dedicated to highlight both categories. Runners can try on trainers, as well as explore Salomon’s gravel product. The store is also host to a pop-up coffee bar and lounge space, aimed at creating a hub for Chicago’s running community.
“There is a distinction from epicenter to what we think of as hub… So San Francisco’s a hub, Seattle’s a hub, [and] Miami’s a hub,” Doolan said.
The brand also thinks about assortment mix based on what makes sense for the consumer and how it is positioning the brand. In the Americas, and likely globally too, footwear is a key significant component, whether that’s performance, running or hiking. Apparel options then are connected to the sport category, such as running.
Wall Street likes to put a number to certain metrics such as store count as they model out a company’s growth potential. That’s now how Salomon is thinking about its stores in the Americas.
“When we think about stores, we don’t have a hey, we want to have 100 stores in five years. What we really think about is where is it accretive to the brand in totality,” Doolan said.
Using the SoHo store in New York City as an example, which has been opened for 18 months and is the longest-standing door in the U.S., Doolan said “there is a lift for our e-com, which is great, but more importantly, on the wholesale side as well for our B2B partners across the metro area.”
He explained that at the Los Angeles store at 8620 Melrose Ave in West Hollywood, the company is seeing additional traffic thanks to its proximity to a Shoe Palace door.
“So for us, it’s very much what is this holistic approach? What is the ecosystem that exists? Consumers don’t necessarily know or care where it is that they’re going to transact. What they know is that they’re having a positive experience with a thing, a brand, and that they’re going to make a choice of I like this brand [they want the product] and they’re going to get it from the partner that they feel the most trust,” he said.
