The North Face to open 70-plus stores in North America
The North Face is expanding its footprint — at home and across the globe.
The specialty outdoor retailer will open more than 70 new stores in North America and up to 300 additional retail and partner locations globally during the next five years. The North Face also plans to continue to transform existing locations to ensure consistency across all its store environments and create a stronger connection with consumers.
To reflect The North Face heritage’s of inspiring and enabling exploration for everyone, the new locations will balance approachability for customers new to the outdoors, while bringing to life stories that demonstrate the “athlete-tested, expedition-proven” quality of its high-performing products. The brand’s commitment to sustainable design and circularity will also be on full display.
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In other features, the new stores will also highlight The North Face footwear by putting the reinvigorated category, which is targeting triple-digit growth during the next five years, front and center. The checkout area is designed to be moved and configured to allow for in-store community, outdoor education and athlete events.
To help break down barriers between digital and physical touchpoints, the stores will also offer mobile point-of-sale, and serve as a key touch point for bringing new consumers into the brand’s XPLR Pass loyalty program. In addition, a seamless omnichannel experience will be highlighted through services such as buy-online-pick-up-in-store, ship-to-store and ship-from-store.
In the spirit of The North Face brand mantra to “Never Stop Exploring,” the stores will work to serve as a place of inclusion and community for all. This will be accomplished through employee training, “thoughtful” consumer engagement and localized community events and activations, the company said.
New North Face locations opened this year include Hangzhou, China; Nanjing, China; Stuttgart, Germany; Schaumburg, Ill; and Portland, Ore. Stores slated to open in 2023 include Minnetonka, Minn.; Lone Tree, Col.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Wauwatosa, Wis.; London Battersea (U.K.); and Garmisch, Germany, among others.
In July, North Face parent VF Corp., whose other brands include Timberland and Vans, reported that its first-quarter revenue rose 3% to $2.26 billion, driven by a strong performance at The North Face, whose sales jumped 31% to $481.1 million.
“As consumers want to engage with The North Face physically as well as digitally, we want to create consistent and welcoming experiences across all our retail locations for both new and established explorers,” said Jason Thomas, senior director of retail, The North Face, a division of VF Outdoor. “This growth strategy will allow us to share our values and connect with customers on a deeper level in multiple different locations and touch points across the globe.”