Gymshark will open first permanent US store next month

Having test-marketed a physical store in New York last year, Gymshark’s ready to open its first permanent US store later this year.

The UK-based gymwear brand and fitness community advocate is preparing to open a 4,000 sq ft flagship at Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, one of the largest enclosed shopping centres in the US, spanning over 2.4 million sq ft and featuring over 270 retailers.

The new store will include Gymshark’s destination zones for shorts and leggings, and its signature mannequins sculpted on real members of the community. All Gymshark’s lines, including Power and Vital, will be available from day one, it said.

Gymshark also said the new store will act as the blueprint for all future stores in the US.

The US arrival following more recent physical openings in Manchester, Dubai and Amsterdam. It opened its first store on London’s Regent Street in 2022, the start of what it calls “its strategy to make it fully omnichannel”.

Having tested the US market with a three-month pop-up last year on Wooster Street, NY, Hannah Mercer, general manager, wholesale and retail, Gymshark, said: “To open our first permanent store in the US is a hugely significant moment.

“To date, we’ve opened four other core stores over the past 12 months or so. What we’ve done here is look at the successes in them — such as staffing models, operational excellence optimisation, the traffic and footfall, the destinations — and apply them to this.

She added: “This store at Roosevelt Field will be the model for all future end endeavours in malls and commercial centres to create the best shopping experience possible for our community.”

Founded by Ben Francis in 2012, Gymshark now claims over 20 million community members in over 200 countries. Annual revenues reportedly exceed $800 million and, in 2020, it said it became only the second British company to achieve ‘unicorn’ status (valuation of over $1 billion) with no prior funding.