Michael Abata’s Post

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Brand & Retail Marketing, Partnerships and Licensing ✨ Retail, CPG, CSR, Startup, DTC expertise 🛍️

Damn DICK'S Sporting Goods House of Sport is 🔥🔥🔥! A recent visit to the Minnetonka, MN House of Sport (which has been open for 2+ years) still looks fabulous. This supersized, interactive, two-story sporting goods experience-first store has all the balls and whistles. It's totally "all-inclusive experiential retail" at its best! Let's explore... 🏓 INTERACTIVITY+ From the batting cages, golf simulators to the climbing wall and full-on track / soccer field / hockey rink in the backyard, this retail experience invites you to embrace your sporty spice side. The parking lot was packed and families of all ages were coming here to explore and play on a Friday afternoon. According to their scheduled events there's basically something happening almost every day! 👟 VISUAL MERCHANDISING JOY This store is a treat to the retail lover and reminds me what my grandparents once felt visiting Sears, Marshall Field's or Dayton's. Every corner, every nook is thoughtfully merchandised with seasonally, culturally and locally relevant items. I love the little touches Dick's does to infuse elements of nature with their in-store marketing. And the cross-merchandising brands/categories to sell a lifestyle is on-point. 🏒 BRANDS SHINE Brands like YETI, Patagonia, Nike, On, Chubbies Shorts and many more shine in this store format. Even Dick's owned brand, DSG, is thoughtfully curated and feels upscale amongst all these other great brands. If I were an outdoor or athletic brand manager, I'd want to be in a Dicks House of Sport!!! 😎 DICK'S HAS GOT YOU! Services right up front are game-changing! Everything from bike tune-ups to custom jersey patches/printing right on site. And you can rent out most of the interactive experiences for your team, family, or friends. Hello birthday parties!! More of this in #retail please!! Dick's Sporting Goods, IMO, is the retailer of 2024. Between House of Sport and Public Lands, they've got the leadership, investments, people, and skills to bring scalable, engaging retail to life across the US! :: Dick's House of Sport :: https://lnkd.in/ge6HSwjT :: More about Public Lands :: https://lnkd.in/gZtf4QqA #retailexperience #retaildesign #ahhmazingretail

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    +10
Michael Abata

Brand & Retail Marketing, Partnerships and Licensing ✨ Retail, CPG, CSR, Startup, DTC expertise 🛍️

3w

One added 🥰 custom uniforms!!

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Scott Roti

General Manager E-Commerce Mason Vitamins

3w

I agree with all of your points on the INTERACTIVITY, VISUAL MERCHANDISING JOY, BRANDS SHINE, DICK'S HAS GOT YOU! The one noteable piece that is missing is customer service which is key to unlocking all of the value in the masterclass in retailing that is Dick's House of Sport. The couple of times I have walked through there are few customers, high-school employees standing around, unhelpful employees when asked questions and very apparent staff is there to help you find something not provide expertise. Contrast that to Scheel's where it has a similar visual merchandising effect, brands are showcased, trained staff attending to assigned department and it always looks like Black Friday of old with customers shopping the wide array of merchandise. Dicks House of Sport is like a museum for what retailing should look like, but missing the human expert component that brings the experience to life!

Emily "The Bun" Benka

Founder: Rosebloom Headwear ⚘️ Hats Made For Hair: Inclusive Headwear

3w

One of my close friends works at DSG's home office, visuals for footwear. He also travels to help set up the new House of Sport locations. It is always fun to hear about them before they are open and then see posts crop up. They truly are amazing and immersive!

Visha Stubbs

Retail Operations | Brand Management | Retail Transformation | Expansion | B2B strategy | Licensing

3w

Hard for me to say but THIS is better than any big sport store in the Middle East! (and I visited most of them). Brilliant merchandising. Thanks for all the photos, I'm sure customers are having fun shopping there. I know I would.

Amy Alyeshmerni

Placemaking and Strategic Business Development at the intersection of retail, real estate and media.

3w

"Visual merchandising Joy" Jan Croatt Brian Landman - check this out... Right on Michael Abata for another on-point callout!

Corey D.

Retail Strategy + Design | Customer Experience

3w

Dick’s is making all the right moves these days

Heather Shetka

Director, Loyalty Marketing | loyalty • credit • co-brand • subscriptions • gift cards • leader

3w

House of Sport is awesome. Even better - the DICK’S Sporting Goods leadership and team. Michael Abata reminds me of the culture and talent when we last worked together. 🙏 Glad to see you excel. Even happier to see you enjoying house of sport ⚽️ 🏀 ⚾️ and Public Lands. Let’s meet for coffee!

Tammy Redpath

CEO at Inside Edge Commercial Interior Services | Global Retail Executive

3w

Yes to more of this in retail! Inside Edge (my new gig) worked on this project, we are proud of the work and the partnership!

Ali Kaltman

Breaking down brands at the 💙 of pop culture | VP, Brand Marketing Lead @ J.P. Morgan Payments

3w

So THIS is what you were talking about! So cool.

Love the interactive elements (batting cages, climbing wall!), thoughtful merchandising, and brand integration. A true "all-inclusive experiential retail" destination

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