Dive Brief:
- As the 2024 Olympics get set to commence this week in Paris, Birkenstock has opened its first owned store in France, in Paris’ Marais district, per a press release.
- The 130-square-meter (427 square feet), two-level store, which opened Saturday, is one of “several” owned stores the brand plans to open across major European cities over the next few years as it looks to connect with local communities. It features selling space and also an “experience area” for community events and activations.
- At launch, the store will showcase the brand’s natural active recovery pack. The kit is limited to 1,500 pieces and includes the active recovery footbed, special edition Birki Air 2.0, and cork tools, per the release. The pack is available at the Paris store and online and will integrate into the full Birkenstock line by 2025.
Dive Insight:
Birkenstock called its first owned store in France a “milestone” in its retail expansion. The store’s design elements include gypsum walls, a nod to the original rock quarries in the area, as well as leather and cork detailing, which are central to the Birkenstock footbed.
“This store will help us to connect more personally with consumers,” Nico Bouyakhf, president and managing director of Birkenstock Europe, said in a statement. “There are many key cities where we are not present in Europe, and we are excited to start our retail expansion in a more meaningful way with an iconic city like Paris and in a renowned location like the Marais, bringing rich storytelling and experience around the footbed in a unique environment that reflects an authentic Parisian flavor.”
With Paris set to host the Olympics and Paralympics, the city anticipates as many as 11.5 million visitors will travel to the events between July 26 and September 8. Other brands, including On Running, have opened new stores in Paris just in time for the event, to take advantage of the influx of tourists.
The Paris store opening is part of Birkenstock’s broader expansion strategy. The brand this spring announced it was going to double its production capacity in the next three years in order to fuel its expansion. It opened a new production facility last September in Pasewalk, Germany, and also refitted existing plants in Portugal and Görlitz, Germany.
With an eye toward growth in other regions, earlier this month Birkenstock named Evelyn Chua to the newly created position of managing director for Southeast Asia and Down Under.
Birkenstock went public in October last year, and while its opening price was lower than its expected range, at $41 per share, the company has since had two strong quarters and seen its share price increase to $55 as of press time.
Birkenstock is coming off consecutive quarters of double-digit growth since going public. Its Q2 revenue increased 22%, with the Americas growing by 19%, Europe by 22%, and the Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa region by 39%. Those results came on top of a 26% revenue bump in Q1 and 20% growth in its latest fiscal year.
