The new City Creek Center in downtown Salt Lake City will open this spring to much fanfare among shoppers. But for outdoorsy types who avoid air-conditioned nightmares (also known as malls,) the grand opening of upscale stores like Nordstrom or Macy’s in the middle of the state’s largest urban area doesn’t rank very high on the excite-o-meter. However, the stoke on City Creek Center has suddenly blipped on the radar as Salomon USA has announced that they will open a Flagship Brand Store in Spring 2012.
The Salomon Flagship store will be the first of its kind in the United States. The Salomon champagne bottles will shatter and launch this ship in late March, 2012. According to Salomon, the shop will carry Salomon apparel, footwear and other softgoods items that are found on the Salomon website. Unfortunately, as much as it would be awesome to swing into City Creek to pick up a pair of Rocker 2 skis or Guardian 16 bindings, hardgoods will not be sold at this store. However, Salomon says consumers will be referred to authorized Salomon dealers that are found all over Utah. They say this will allow consumers the benefits of trained boot-fitters and shop techs to customize alpine, Nordic and snowboard gear, as those services will not be available at the Salomon Flagship store.
In addition, Salomon says the store will be pretty high tech, as it will be outfitted with the company’s latest generation fixtures as part of a global Salomon fixture launch featuring digital technology and tactile displays.
“Opening our first Salomon flagship store in the USA is a key step forward in offering our consumers a more rounded brand experience,” says Tim Wakaruk, Director of Retail Operations for Amer Sports Winter and Outdoor Americas (ASWO.) “Our directional goal is to work collaboratively with our current retail, wholesale and online partners as well as our own ecommerce strategy. This holistic approach will allow all of us the grow markets and ultimately, the overall industry.”
“It’s been great to work with our retail partners to elevate the Salomon brand in the US,” says ASWO President and General Manager Mike Dowse. “And we’re excited to offer shoppers another way to choose our stellar products in downtown Salt Lake City.”
In coming months Salomon will announce the date of an opening celebration for the Salt Lake City flagship store. The event will be open to the public and will include a tour, special gifts and drawings, athlete appearances and more. While there are plans to open additional brand and partner stores in the United States, those dates or locations have not yet been solidified.
Fore more, visit www.salomon.com