Hoka, owned by Deckers Brands, opened its first retail store in Europe at Shaftesbury Capital’s Covent Garden in London. The 1,750-square-foot space at 2-3 James Street sells the brand’s full line of footwear, apparel and accessories.
The Hoka London store also serves as a community gathering spot, offering yoga classes, wellness services, equipment repair, local events, runs, educational talks, workshops and panel discussions.
“London is arguably the most influential athletic lifestyle footwear market in the world and is a critically important market for us. It is imperative that we double down in London and develop marketplace strategy across performance and lifestyle to strengthen our presence in this key city,” said Stefano Caroti, interim Hoka president and chief commercial officer, Deckers Brands.
According to Deckers Brands’ recent 10K filing, Hoka had 18 stores, mainly open in China. The brand opened its first store in the U.S. last fall in New York City’s Flatiron District and continues experimenting with pop-ups, including in Chicago and Venice, CA.
On its July quarterly call, Dave Powers, Deckers Brands’ CEO, said Hoka stores (pop-ups and permanent locations) are exceeding or are on plan, but the brand is taking expansion “slow” to finetune its approach. “While the Hoka brand’s DTC business is still predominantly e-commerce, our select retail stores are augmenting the brand’s presence by increasing awareness and brand engagement with a physical presence in key strategic markets, creating personal consumer connections through community-oriented experiences and broadening category adoption by showcasing the depth of the Hoka product offering. For these reasons, we expect to continue testing potential permanent locations through pop-up stores. We are excited about a couple of new doors that are in the pipeline and look forward to sharing more soon,” said Powers.
Photo courtesy Hoka
