Wilson Sporting Goods in early May opened its first West Coast retail location in Santa Monica, CA, bringing its total store count to six. Gordon Devin, president and general manager of Wilson Sportswear, talked with SGB Executive about the company’s aggressive retail push, its expanding apparel business and current business conditions.
The 4,500-square-foot space, at Third Street Promenade in downtown Santa Monica, CA combines an expansive product assortment across a wide range of sports categories with immersive experiences that celebrate the brand’s iconic history.
A standout feature is the play/test area including a basketball hoop and hitting wall where customers can try out products. There’s also an Equipment Room, where shoppers can rent tennis and pickleball racquets, basketball, football and volleyball equipment to test outside the store before purchasing. Fees range from $5 to $10/day with the rental fee removed from the final price if the item is purchased.
Wilson opened its first store in July 2021 Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood and has since added a second in Chicago and three in New York City, including a SoHo flagship.
What are you learning about retail opportunities and the Wilson brand from store openings? We are learning that customers, especially female athletes, have a nostalgic love and appreciation for our brand far greater than anticipated. Wilson is dedicated to elevating the sports store to new heights with premium products across categories and inspiring play at every level.
What’s unique about Wilson’s retail experience? Our store concepts are centered around “play,” which is critical in creating a place for our athletes and community to experience our brand. Wilson enables play through our in-store activation areas and the Equipment Room product rental program that enables play through in-store experiences and community interaction is our value add.
Are the stores largely branding vehicles? Are they profitable? Stores are individual profit centers that build our brand by acting as community hubs.
Why did you choose Santa Monica, and what’s next for retail expansion? The West side of LA is a super important community in the sports world, so it was natural that Wilson should be here. We plan stores in key sports communities worldwide in the coming years.
What do your wholesale partners think of the stores? Most love it. In places like NYC, our retail presence has helped our key wholesale partners.
The stores represent a significant opportunity to showcase the newer lifestyle apparel offerings. How is the performance and lifestyle apparel business doing for Wilson? It’s doing incredible. We make the world’s best sporting equipment, and now we make technical apparel at the same level. Apparel is already a large majority of our retail business.
Wilson competes across multiple categories. Can you share any big launches or initiatives for 2023? For this year, we are focused on multiple initiatives across the board. On the golf front, we re-introduced “Dynapower” golf clubs, a reinvention of an iconic golf franchise. We have a tennis-inspired sportswear collection coming out at the end of this month and we are keen on growing Padel, the next great racket sport everyone needs to try,
How is the overall Wilson business doing in the current unsettled retail environment? Our business is going great, but, of course, there are some headwinds. That said, we have a diversified portfolio of products, markets and channels, so we can keep growing even in challenging times.
Photos courtesy Wilson
