Downtown Seattle Nike store to close at the end of the week
Jan 18, 2023, 10:49 AM | Updated: 11:28 am
(Photo by Sam Campbell)
(Photo by Sam Campbell)
The downtown Seattle Nike store at 1500 6th Avenue opened in 1996. It will close this Friday.
At the time, the store was symbolic of a growing and new downtown retail core.
At one time, the store held a contest to decide who the biggest sports star in Seattle was so they could put a billboard on the front of the store. It turned out to be Sue Bird, in her prime, playing for the Seattle Storm.
New crime data shows optimistic outlook for downtown Seattle
The early days of the store had lines outside the front. The company made the grand opening a big deal. So did downtown Seattle.
As I reported a few weeks ago, Nike just officially announced they’re closing their Seattle store at the end of the week.
It was driven, in large part, by the deteriorating conditions of the area.
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) January 18, 2023
Nike isn’t abandoning Western Washington. According to Nike’s website, there’s a new Nike factory store in Bellevue. There’s also the Nike clearance store in Auburn and the Nike factory store in North Bend.
The downtown retail core has been having trouble since the COVID-19 pandemic. Crime has also been a concern.
According to the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA), the city had 2.1 million visitors in November of 2022. A bright spot was Thanksgiving when retail core had more than 115,000 visitors, a 6% increase over the year before.
In a statement, the DSA talked about the changing landscape of downtown as retailers continue to shut their doors.
For several years, retailers have been evaluating changing needs for space and scale. We’ve seen that in urban areas since before the pandemic. We never like to see a downtown retailer choose to close and Niketown has been a great part of our retail mix through the years. We are excited about several newcomers who have opened their doors in recent months with more on the way. To help foster their success we need to ensure a safe and welcoming environment, something that’s been improving in downtown and is top of mind for our city leaders.
Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the DSA estimates that around 500 street-level businesses closed and around 300 new businesses opened in downtown Seattle.
Sam Campbell contributed to this story
