{"id":189217,"date":"2021-12-03T17:05:35","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T17:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/?p=189217"},"modified":"2022-05-05T16:06:15","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T15:06:15","slug":"gymshark-irl-director-mitch-healey-on-launching-the-brands-first-flagship-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/gymshark-irl-director-mitch-healey-on-launching-the-brands-first-flagship-store\/","title":{"rendered":"Gymshark: \"As retail gets more digital, we get more physical\""},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gymshark, the fast-growing, digital first gymwear brand, announced this week that it will <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/gymshark-to-open-first-flagship-store-on-regents-street\/\">open its very first flagship store in London's Regent Street<\/a> <\/span>in the summer of 2022, signing a 10-year lease to take over an 18,000 sq ft location formally occupied by J.Crew.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The brand, which was founded by entrepreneur Ben Francis (pictured above on Regent Street), said the new flagship would support its mission to unite its sprawling social media community of 17 million with a space that will offer shopping, events, community hangouts, as well as workout studios and more, with further details to be announced next spring.<\/p>\n<p>Its move into the physical, or IRL, realm (its only dalliance into physical retail before has been via a pop-up) has been led by Global IRL Director, Mitch Healey. TheIndustry.fashion caught up with him to hear his insights on what the new physical retail strategy will mean for the fast-growing fitness brand.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It\u2019s a lot of commitment to sign a lease for 10 years. I guess this means you believe the UK retail industry will survive and even thrive?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re definitely confident in the future of UK retail. I think it has so much more to offer still. However, I think it\u2019s more of classic example of how, at Gymshark, when others zig, we zag. As retail, and indeed the world, gets more digital, we are getting more physical. However, we wouldn\u2019t do this if we didn\u2019t have absolute confidence in the resilience of UK retail. We\u2019re also delighted to be playing our part in investing in the high street and British retail after such a tough couple of years for so many.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Regents Street is an iconic location as you say, but it\u2019s quite far away from the brand\u2019s origins in Bromsgrove, Birmingham. What made you decide to open your first flagship in the capital?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bromsgrove and Birmingham is where the brand was born and our headquarters are and always will be here. However, for our first IRL (In Real Life) store we know we needed it to be BIG. When you think of iconic retail destinations, even globally, it doesn\u2019t get much more iconic than Regent Street, so we\u2019re so excited to be here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You say this store is not going to be like anything we have seen before. That\u2019s probably to be expected as Gymshark\u2019s success is also unprecedented. Yet other fitness apparel brands with retail stores have also introduced free fitness classes and events. What will set Gymshark\u2019s flagship apart?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t give too much away on that at the moment as we\u2019re still developing the store designs. When it comes to what sets us apart, I\u2019d say it\u2019s how we genuinely are community-first. We have the most amazing community here that love to interact with the Gymshark brand. So, while there\u2019s a lot more to Gymshark than just a website, so will allow community members to get closer to their favourite brands and experience the things that online maybe restricts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For such a young brand you have achieved a lot of growth, can you give us a hint of what we can expect from you in the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We always have big aspirations for the brand, both in revenue growth and community growth, and we are always exploring other potential avenues to help us engage with our community. However, for now, I am focussed on getting the business and this store ready for open date. Stay tuned though. I\u2019ve no doubt there will be more to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":189221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9762,6,10494],"tags":[9951,13396,22052,21987],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gymshark: &quot;As retail gets more digital, we get more physical&quot; - TheIndustry.fashion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gymshark, the fast-growing, digital first gymwear brand, announced this week that it will open its very first flagship store in London&#039;s Regent Street in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/gymshark-irl-director-mitch-healey-on-launching-the-brands-first-flagship-store\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gymshark: &quot;As retail gets more digital, we get more physical&quot; - TheIndustry.fashion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gymshark, the fast-growing, digital first gymwear brand, announced this week that it will open its very first flagship store in London&#039;s Regent Street in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/gymshark-irl-director-mitch-healey-on-launching-the-brands-first-flagship-store\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TheIndustry.fashion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theindustryfashion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-03T17:05:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-05T15:06:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Gymshark-flagship-Regents-Street.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Camilla Rydzek\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@theindustryfash\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@theindustryfash\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Camilla Rydzek\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/gymshark-irl-director-mitch-healey-on-launching-the-brands-first-flagship-store\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/gymshark-irl-director-mitch-healey-on-launching-the-brands-first-flagship-store\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Camilla Rydzek\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/person\/ee7712a633457a19b42286f46d5aebd4\"},\"headline\":\"Gymshark: \\\"As retail gets more digital, we get more physical\\\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-03T17:05:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-05T15:06:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/gymshark-irl-director-mitch-healey-on-launching-the-brands-first-flagship-store\/\"},\"wordCount\":610,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Activewear\",\"Gymshark\",\"Mitch Healey\",\"Regents Street\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Features\",\"Interviews\",\"News &amp; Insight\",\"Retail &amp; Etail\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/gymshark-irl-director-mitch-healey-on-launching-the-brands-first-flagship-store\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/gymshark-irl-director-mitch-healey-on-launching-the-brands-first-flagship-store\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/gymshark-irl-director-mitch-healey-on-launching-the-brands-first-flagship-store\/\",\"name\":\"Gymshark: \\\"As retail gets more digital, we get more physical\\\" - 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