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Nike is today opening its next Community Store, in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood.
The 9,588-square-foot, single-level space is at the Freedom Plaza Shopping Center, the centerpiece of a 700-unit apartment complex that was recently transformed by developer Primestor from aging public housing into a sustainable mixed-use residential and retail village. Nike shares space in the center with several other chains, including Starbucks and Smart & Final.
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Nike launched its Community Store concept five years ago, and the Watts door is the eighth to open in North America, with others in Detroit, Brooklyn, Portland, Ore., South Chicago, New Orleans and Washington, D.C. L.A. is the only city to have two — the Watts location and one in East Los Angeles, which opened in 2015.
“We always want to reflect and support the communities that love us,” said Blanca Gonzalez, vice president and general manager of Nike L.A. of the brand’s decision to open in Watts, a working class, primarily Latino and Black community with a rich history of art and activism.
Nike hired 85 percent of the staff from within three miles of the store, is allocating paid volunteer hours for employees to give back and is supporting local organizations through an employee-led grant program. (Initial grants are going to organizations including the East Side Riders Bike Club, Peace4Kids and Watts Rams Track and Field. The store will provide additional grants in 2021, when community organizations can begin applying for a total of $50,000.)
Inside of the Watts door, there are lots of local touches, from the “Watts” logo on the wall designed by rapper and producer Stix, who also wrote a manifesto for the store, to the mural by artist Moses Bell of local community leaders like youth outreach organizer “Sweet” Alice Harris.
The brand partnered with the Love Watts creative network to connect with community talent, which is also spotlighted in a zine, alongside employee profiles, neighborhood street art and landmarks such as the folk art Watts Towers. Nike plans to continue to publish the zine twice a year, to “create a platform for the next artists, influencers and athletes,” Gonzalez said.
Nike tapped a local photographer, 22-year-old Barrington Darius, to capture its imagery of the store. What does it mean to have a Nike store in his own backyard, instead of having to drive miles across L.A.’s urban sprawl to Cerritos or Lakewood or beyond to shop? “It feels like being noticed,” he said during a photo shoot at the store last week. “The inner city deserves everything you’d find everywhere else.”