Nike Town London is housed in an imposing building on the northeast corner of Oxford Circus in central London. This was opened as the UK Nike store in 1999 at the corner of Oxford Street and Regent Street.
The heritage building dates back to the Regent Street redevelopment in the early 1900s.
Nike is a world known name and it is interesting to read how a Greek myth has become the name of this sports and sports center. This American company grew out of an informal agreement in 1964 between the University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, a middle distance runner. The name was devised by the company’s first salesperson in 1971. The Swoosh trademark was patented and is now recognized around the world.
Nike continually offers new design classics and some of Nike shoes have been best sellers for years.
There has been some negative publicity about its manufacture in the third world and Jonah Peretti’s Nike ‘Sweatshop’ email from 2001 is still remembered.
But Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan is immensely motivating and has inspired many more motivational quotes from Nike slogans.
Three floors
There are three floors of shops above the ground floor welcome area. Seriously, on one of the most expensive shopping streets in London, NikeTown has no products on the ground floor. So it might seem a bit intimidating to walk around and see the ‘welcome staff’, but wander around and you can take the escalator up to Level 1.
Level 1
Level 1 has equipment for running, training and soccer. The Soccer section is in the middle and you can print jerseys and do a boot test here as well.
Level 2
Level 2 has golf, tennis and basketball equipment, with an area to shoot hoops.
Level 3
This is a huge store (70,000 square feet, I’m told) and has the largest area of women’s sports clothing and footwear in Europe. Level 3 is dedicated to women’s sportswear.
In the Running section, you can do a running analysis to make sure you buy the best shoes for you. Nike is more than just a sportswear store, as each floor offers specialized services, such as a Run Coach service to set up a personalized running program for you. Nike Town has special events, such as athlete talks, and there is also a popular athletic club and training club.
You can custom design your own one-of-a-kind custom footwear in the ID space with Nike staff on hand to help one-on-one.
Internal DJ
And there is a strong soundtrack to your shopping experience, as there are in-house DJs making tunes.
Customer service
Reports are variable on customer service, but when it’s good, it’s really good. It’s a big store and it gets crowded and that may be when it’s hardest to get the assistance you need. Or when staff are bored and too busy testing equipment themselves.
No ‘memories’
If you are looking to buy something related to English sports or English teams, you will be out of luck here, which is a shame, but I guess they don’t want the ‘tourist buyers’.
Contact details
Address: 236 Oxford Street, London W1C 1DE
Phone number: 020 7612 0800
Nearest Tube Station: Oxford Circus
Use the Citymapper or Journey Planner app to plan your route on public transportation.
Opening hours:
Monday through Friday from 10 am to 9 pm
Saturday: 9 am – 9 pm
Sunday: 11:30 am to 6 pm (only navigation until 12 pm)
