CEBU, Philippines — American sports apparel brand Nike opened its largest experiential concept store outside Manila to capitalize on the shift of consumers’ preference towards healthy and fit lifestyle.
Called the Nike Rise, the store located at the ground floor of Ayala Center Cebu spans 697 square meters, which is styled after a running track.
In the Philippines, the global sportswear giant partners with Green Tee Inc., as the official store operator in the country.
In an interview with Miguel Celdran, managing director of Green Tee Inc. , he said that Cebu market’s profound sense of sophistication and readiness to embrace modern retailing concept inspired the company to open its flagship store here.
“We believe it’s long overdue. The Cebu market is very mature and sophisticated. We believe Cebu is more than ready for Nike Rise,” Celdran said.
Nike Rise is the latest look of Nike globally. It carries categories they have never carried before, such as kids, yoga, Jordan line, and extensive choices for women.
“This big-door concept carries all categories, a complete full-line concept,” he noted.
Nike Rise Cebu is the last Nike Rise store to open this year after SM North Edsa, Glorietta and the flagship Nike Rise in BGC High Street.
Next year, Nike Rise will open in Davao City, along with other provincial cities across the country.
Despite the popularity of online or virtual shopping, Celdran believes that brick-and-mortar retail concept is here to stay, and will complement with online shopping.
In fact, in-store foot traffic of Nike shops in the country has improved in the recent months.
“Since this year, our foot traffic is almost pre-pandemic but our sales are already pre-pandemic,” he said.
Since the start of hard lockdown in early 2020, Green Tee Inc., deployed its workers to other assignments instead of laying them off. He said the company repurposed workers to handle online order.
Pandemic was a big challenge and stores were closed for many months. Fortunately, we have online sales to get us through,” he explained.