First Nike Community Store Opens in Detroit

While many are still quick to write Detroit off as a dying city, this once-true belief is no longer the case. Detroit is on the upswing, mostly due to how far and how hard it fell before. Within the past few years, budding entrepreneurs have begun to recognize the space as profitable with low staffing and start-up costs and cheap rents. Locally owned cafes and restaurants have begun popping up along the streets, doing their part to fill some of the empty, abandoned storefronts.

The opening of the Detroit store marks Nike's seventh
community store in the country. 

A larger, non-local company has recently gotten its foot into the Detroit rise and is emanating hope to all its residents: on May 26, 2016, Nike opened the doors to its first community store in Michigan in downtown Detroit, clocking in at 22,000 sq. ft. spanning two stories.

What makes these community stores different from regular Nike retail locations is the mission behind them: through its community stores, Nike is pushing for physical activity and community giveback through volunteer work and collaboration with local organizations in areas that are being revitalized, including New Orleans, Brooklyn, east Los Angeles, and south Chicago.

These initiatives have already been implemented in Detroit with employees out volunteering before the store even opened. The employees are allotted hours to go out into their community and volunteer with organizations like the local Boys & Girls Club dubbed “the Diehl Club,” hosting physical activities like basketball and flag football games.  

Nike also hopes to incorporate the local culture of Detroit into the products it offers, as well as the design and aesthetic of the store itself. The Detroit store is decorated with local sports areas and landmarks and carries Detroit-centered products for men, women, and kids from the the Tigers, the Lions, and Michigan State University.

This is also the first Nike community store to offer eight local nonprofit organizations annual grants of $5,000, or $40,000 a year donated to charities. Like other Nike community stores, the Detroit location aims to hire 80% of its employees from within a 5-mile radius of the store’s location.

While downtown Detroit still features many empty storefronts, there is no doubt that the city is on the rise. The words Resurgent Cineribus adorn the city’s seal, translating to “it will rise from the ashes,” boasting loud and proud to everyone that this city will not be kept down.