Adidas' concept store arrives in Canberra

At a moment when Adidas is reaping plaudits for the opening of its tech-heavy store in London where, like Nike’s flagships, experience is to the fore, it’s worth taking a look at the more workaday ‘concept’ branches that are opening.

And one of the latest to welcome shoppers is the brand’s first standalone store in Canberra. No flagship for the Aussie capital and instead this is a franchise ‘concept’ store that happens to function as a ‘shop’ – a place where things are sold, for a return on investment, rather than a marketing vehicle.

The store stocks “the best of the brand’s performance” merchandise and Adidas ‘Originals’ and is exactly what might have been expected of a sports store before screens, interactivity and all-round experience became the order of the day. Practically, this means an interior with an exposed ceiling void, concrete pillars and a mix of polished concrete and wood for the floor.

The stock is displayed on fairly dense mid-shop fixtures where the emphasis is on the merchandise, not the equipment that supports it and there is the usual trainer wall along the perimeter. As well as the storefront, the whole of one side of the store is glazed, meaning a high level of natural daylight.

There is little that could be described as ‘experiential’ about what has been done here and whether the promise of the brand’s flagships has been translated is a moot point, but this is a ‘shop’, not a showroom.