Nike Harajuku

In addition to a larger floor space than any of their other shops in Japan, this flagship store, which opened on Nov 14, 2009, also boasts a staggering array of products and a range of Nike services. On the first floor, in the Runner’s Studio area (which exhibits a stunning chandelier made from marathon number bibs), the shop offers a service that provides customers with a chance to learn how their foot pronates as they run in real time by means of a high-speed camera especially set up to help analyse gait and receive expert advice (based on the results of the video analysis) regarding exactly which kind of running shoe will best match their own individual requirements. On the second floor, in an area dubbed the Nikeid Studio, customers have the chance to create their own customised Nike products. The third floor houses the world’s second Nike Bootroom, following the footsteps of the specialist Nike football boot area that opened in Niketown in London. Amongst the various noteworthy spectacles incorporated into the shop’s interior design, is a particularly exciting collaborative work between Nike and Wonderwall (an interior design company owned by Masamichi Katayama) that suspends 500 pure white training shoes from the ceiling and takes up the space directly above the stairs that run between the first and second floors. To celebrate their opening, the store lined up a number of special products brought about by collaborations with twelve renowned athletes, including stars such as Nobuharu Asahara, Takehiko Inoue, Yu Darvish, and Rie Hasegawa.