NEW YORK — With its growing roster of fashion retail tenants, the USTA National Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open, is starting to resemble the nearby Americana Manhasset luxury shopping center.
Polo and Lacoste are operating at the site, and it’s likely other fashion brands may soon jump into the selling action.
“The retail scene is getting more sophisticated here,” said Sarah Cummins, director of merchandising and licensing for the United States Tennis Association, which oversees retailing at the tournament. “We are in the process of a major renovation and expansion, and we think there is a lot of room for more fashion brands, like an upscale handbag company and Madison Avenue-type retail. It’s certainly in our best interest to bring in as many brands as possible.”
Sales across the board among different retailers are already up 20 percent compared with last year because of “favorable weather, great matches and first-class merchandisers like Polo,” Cummins said. She declined to give overall figures.
In addition to Lacoste and Polo, traditional sports and tennis brands, including Nike, Wilson Sporting Goods and Bolle, also have retail operations at the tennis center. Thee USTA has 22 of its own retail outlets on-site, selling a range of U.S. Open-themed merchandise such as baseball hats and T-shirts.
Although on-site stores operate for a few weeks during the Open, they benefit because the tournament draws more than 600,000 spectators, who are generally affluent. Cummins noted that the average visitor spends about seven hours at the tennis center, and a big chunk of that time can be used to shop.
“Consumers now are more open to retail sites that are not in the typical places and are in locales like the U.S. Open,” she said.
Many fans have seemed just as interested in shopping as the on-court action. Nike’s on-site location was packed during a random visit. Shoppers tried on the dresses and tank tops over their street clothes while standing in front of the store. Polo’s store in the Louis Armstrong Stadium also was bustling, and has been busy since it opened in late August, a company spokeswoman said. She said the location has performed far above expectations.
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“Polo, especially, has elevated the retail experience and brought in a higher level of sophistication,” Cummins said, referring to the store’s lacquered wood fixtures and merchandise such as cashmere sweaters. “That level of sophistication has caused everyone else to up their game a little.”
Among the bestsellers at the Polo shop are official U.S. Open merchandise such as polo shirts and track jackets with the oversized Polo logo, as well as tiny canvas tote bags with a red logo selling for $45, and sets of Pink Pony tennis balls, which retail for $10. Proceeds from the tennis balls are used to help the fight against breast cancer. Many spectators were wearing the Polo merchandise, and the clear shopping bags customers receive when they buy something are already being sold on eBay.
This is the second year Lacoste has had a store on-site. While the company is not an official U.S. Open sponsor, it has upped its presence in tennis by sponsoring Andy Roddick. Bestsellers at the 1,200-square-foot shop include limited-edition polo shirts with a tennis racquet print, selling for $110, and head scarves for $35, as well as a T-shirt with a rainbow-colored crocodile.
“Our sales this year are double-digit over last year,” said Bob Ross, Lacoste’s vice president of retail. “Since this is our second year, we have gotten better at identifying what the consumer wants and we have already sold out of some limited-edition items.”
The U.S. Open location offers a larger selection of performance-related products than most Lacoste stores, as well as its polos and other key looks for the season, he said.
“Even though it’s only open for a few weeks, the store does the same amount of volume as one of its smaller stores does in about eight or nine months,” Ross added.
Although Roddick was defeated in the first round of the tournament, looks he has worn on court such as a Lacoste baseball hat have been strong sellers, Ross said.
“Having a store at the Open is a way for us to market the brand as well as sell product,” he said. “For us, it’s a bull’s-eye to our target audience.”