Wilson Sporting Goods Opens First West Coast Store
Amer Sports’ Wilson Sporting Goods is continuing its focus on brick-and-mortar with the opening of a store in California, located within the Third Street Promenade shopping and entertainment district in Santa Monica, a couple blocks from the ocean.
The store, which opened on May 4 and spans 4,500 square feet, is Wilson's first brick-and-mortar location on the West Coast. The space offers an expansive product assortment across sport categories, as well as immersive experiences and artwork aimed at celebrating the brand’s history and inspiring play, according to a media release.
"We are thrilled to bring the in-person expression of our brand to the West Coast, and there's no better place to start than Santa Monica," Gordon Devin, president and general manager, Wilson sportswear, said in the release. "From our first retail location in Chicago, to opening multiple locations across the country, Wilson is dedicated to celebrating athletes of all levels through a premium range of products and experiences."
The Santa Monica store features a designated “playtest” area for shoppers to trial products, including a basketball hoop as well as a hitting wall for tennis and pickleball. The store also offers on-site services such as tennis racquet stringing.
Additionally, an "Equipment Room" allows shoppers to rent select products to try on their own outside of the store before purchasing. Participating sporting goods and equipment available to shoppers through this program spans tennis, pickleball, basketball, football and volleyball, among others. Rental fees range from $5-$10 per day based on the product, and all rental fees will be taken off the final price if purchased.
Wilson has two stores in Chicago and three in New York. The latter stores comprise its SoHo flagship and its Upper East Side and Columbus Circle stores, all in Manhattan.
Following in the footsteps of the Midwest and East Coast stores, the Santa Monica location merchandises the brand’s top products, including the official basketballs of the NBA and WNBA, the official ball of the NFL dubbed the Duke, A2000 baseball gloves, Dynapower golf clubs and tennis rackets such as the Pro Staff and Clash.
Unique to the Santa Monica store, Wilson will also offer exclusive West Coast-inspired products.
The store will also feature Wilson's newest styles from the brand’s technical sportswear collection, available for both men and women exclusively at Wilson retail stores and on Wilson.com.
To draw attention to the store opening, Wilson hosted community programming and sport activations May 5-7, including a tennis pop-up experience featuring an outdoor mini court in the front of the store, as well as a dunk competition and special guest appearances.