NOBULL is Opening a Retail Store in New York City
The story.
After Ben Bergeron shared this image of what appeared to be a NOBULL retail store coming to New York the Internet has been abuzz but few details exist and even NOBULL has been mum on the subject. That is until we caught up co-founder Marcus Wilson who shared more plans about the ‘coming soon’ project.
And…
In about four weeks — think end of October — NOBULL will open their first retail spot at 68 Prince Street in the chic SoHo neighborhood of New York City. This is not a pop-up shop or a temporary seasonal experiment. NOBULL is all in on this expansion into retail.
“We found out it was available and we jumped all the way in and signed up long term,” Wilson said on the phone. “We’re in the process of building it out right now. I’m in SoHo standing out in front of the store.”
Even though NOBULL is based in Boston, MA, their interest in New York started back to October 2015 when they held a launch event at CrossFit Solace to a packed house. It was then that they realized they had a strong customer base in the city.
A major first for a CrossFit industry born brand.
The CrossFit industry has some very successful brands born inside the industry — think RXBAR and FITAID for starters — but no major apparel or shoe company has emerged to open a retail presence and in New York City no less.
And similar to their super limited runs and select launches, NOBULL is building out a unique fan experience for their flagship store.
“We’re very much viewing our retail presence as a way to engage consumers in a unique way and drive things online,” Wilson said. “We’re thinking of this as very much a retail store but also as a community engagement hub. We’re going to start rolling out programs for trainers, box owners, and the broader New York community.”
One thing Wilson let in on was that they’d be bringing back select sold out limited sneakers for purchase in store only.
So what about all of us 3,000 miles away?
TBD. Wilson didn’t name any new cities they’re expanding too yet but didn’t rule it out either.
“We’re going to be trying to learn as much as we can. As we look at other key markets we’ll want to take some of that knowledge and learning and bring it to other cities.”
In the meantime, if you want to be the first to know what’s going on at the store just sign-up for updates.