Under Armour is nipping at Nike’s swoosh at yet another location.
Nike has a lease out on 140 West St., for somewhere between 40,000 and 65,000 square feet of the building’s 100,000 square feet of retail. And guess who wants it if they walk away?
The 1927 Ralph Walker-designed Art Deco tower is the historic Verizon headquarters where the top floors are being redeveloped into luxury condominiums by Ben Shaoul’s Magnum Real Estate Group and CIM with a separate address of 100 Barclay St.
Nike, which is represented by Joanne Podell at Cushman & Wakefield, has been slowly negotiating this deal for over a year but despite sources saying there’s a lease ready to ink, it is yet to pull the trigger.
Meanwhile, Nike’s nemesis, the upstart Under Armour, is circling the space, ready to pick it up if Nike backtracks.
The desirable retail space is in the base of the building, right across West Street from Goldman Sachs and Brookfield Place’s luxury shopping area where its restaurants are jammed.
It is also right across Vesey Street from One World Trade Center and the entrances to the PATH train, along with Westfields’s Calatrava-designed Oculus and shopping corridors.
These shopping spots will open in August, and while Under Armour is already on board for a smaller space, it likes the downtown demographics and easy sidewalk access to 140 West St. where it can continue its new, larger-store concepts.
We’ve already told you that Under Armour is competing with Nike for both a temporary and permanent flagship at the former F.A.O. Schwarz space in the base of 767 Fifth Ave.
And when sluggish Nike passed on a perch at 640 Fifth Ave., Victoria’s Secret snapped it up.
Nike is still set until 2022 with its giant public school gym at newly minted GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump’s 6 E. 57 St., and it just opened in Soho in the new Jeff Sutton, Bobby Cayre and Aurora project at 540 Broadway near Under Armour’s nook at 583 Broadway.
No one was available to comment prior to press time. Stay tuned.
A small store in Palo Alto, Calif., called b8ta is taking experiential retailing a step forward by making it more accessible to individual “makers” while providing sales feedback through video and technological algorithms.
Founded by a former Nest employee, Vibuhu Norby, along with colleagues Phillip Raub, Nicholas Mann and William Mintun, the store showcases products and not the packaging.
On a visit last Friday night, a half-dozen people plus several children were exploring more than four dozen different products. Each has its own display stand that includes an iPad with simple software to explain the product, and the ability to take it off and play with it.
Video cameras record every move and through algorithms, provide feedback to the product developers.
Products range from children’s robots to wearable tech for newborns. A salesman said the most popular seller is an approximately $30 high-speed car charger, Zus, which through an app, also helps you find the car in a parking lot.
Another hot seller is an $800 drone that reacts to hand gestures and can follow you and take videos while you practice ski jumps, skateboard tricks or splits.
“Brick and mortar is being impacted by technology,” said Gene Spiegleman, vice chairman of retail with Cushman & Wakefield.
Speaking at a Cushman & Wakefield press conference, Spiegleman mentioned Pirch at 200 Lafayette, Samsung in the Meatpacking District, Story at 144 Tenth Ave. and the new Barney’s at W. 17th St. as retailers that are moving toward experiential retailing.
“There is an unrelenting pressure to adapt to consumer behavior,” Spiegleman said.
A b8ta spokeswoman says it is focusing on perfecting its flagship in Palo Alto, and while expansion to New York is not in the forefront, it is very much a future possibility.
