NBA Store

• 1. Introduction

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  The NBA Store sits at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 45th Street in Manhattan, and it is far more than a place to buy a jersey. Since the first location opened in the fall of 1998, the chain has grown into a globe-spanning retail network that doubles as a diplomatic outpost, a concert venue, a charity hub, and even a presence inside a virtual world. What draws former presidents and mayors through its doors? How did a basketball league turn a retail shop into something closer to an embassy? And what does a 25,000-square-foot store in New York have to do with basketball fans in Beijing, Sydney, and Buenos Aires?

• 2. A Store Like No Other

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  The original Fifth Avenue location was established at 666 Fifth Avenue in 1998, and the construction alone signaled that this would be no ordinary sports shop. Workers removed structural beams to carve out a 36-by-54-foot hole at the base of the building, creating the open interior the store required. At 25,000 square feet, the space offered free video games, television screens broadcasting live game footage, and player measurement charts letting visitors compare their own height and wingspan to those of NBA athletes.

  The merchandise range ran to over 35,000 distinct items. Shoppers could find current NBA and WNBA jerseys alongside replica jerseys of retired players, footwear, collectibles, photography, and home goods including pillows and plates. NBA employees and players received a 30% discount on their purchases, a perk that drew athletes in regularly. Steve Candeloro served as the store's concierge from the day it opened, greeting the steady stream of tourists, celebrities, and visiting players who came in before or after games against the New York Knicks or Brooklyn Nets.

  The store hosted The NBA Store Concert Series, where musical acts performed on a half-court stage inside the building. Among those who played there were Destiny's Child, Run DMC, Michelle Branch, and Aaron Carter. The space was also available for private birthday parties, and during Christmas 2006 the wife of NBA player Dwyane Wade volunteered at the store's Holiday Toy Drive.

• 3. Famous Visitors

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  Former President Bill Clinton visited the NBA Store, as did Ken Livingstone, then the Mayor of London, who received a personal tour from NBA Commissioner David Stern. The fact that a sitting commissioner guided a foreign city's mayor through a retail outlet speaks to the store's unusual standing as a site of institutional diplomacy alongside commercial activity.

  The New York Knicks ran a recurring event at the store called Autographs for Supplies, where players including Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph, and WNBA player Kym Hampton signed merchandise in exchange for school supplies donated by fans. The drive was designed to raise resources for children while stressing the value of education.

  In 2007, the store hosted a fashion exhibition tied to the Casual Male Retail Group's acquisition of Jared M., a men's big-and-tall clothing company popular among athletes and celebrities for custom sportswear. Several NBA players attended to show support for the brand's founder, who had fitted many of them personally.

• 4. Jersey Sales and Fan Demand

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  The most popular jerseys in the United States shifted year to year, tracking team performance closely. Dwyane Wade led U.S. jersey sales in the 2005-06 season, the year his Miami Heat won the championship. Kobe Bryant topped the charts in 2006-07, and Kevin Garnett took the top spot in 2007-08, the year his Boston Celtics won the title. The broader top-fifteen list for each of those three seasons is a snapshot of the players who most captured fan attention during that period, including LeBron James, Allen Iverson, and Dirk Nowitzki.

  Team-level merchandise followed the same championship pattern. In 2007, the most popular team paraphernalia came from the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Knicks, and the Miami Heat, the reigning 2006 champions. The following year the Lakers and Knicks held their positions while the Heat dropped out, replaced by the Boston Celtics after their 2008 title run.

  The sales data tracked at the New York store was combined with figures from NBAStore.com, reflecting how retail and online commerce fed the same commercial ecosystem.

• 5. China and the International Push

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  When the NBA first opened retail in 1998, international operations accounted for only 10 percent of total profit. The numbers in China, though, told a different story. Statistics cited by the league showed that 300 million of China's 1.3 billion people played basketball, and that 83 percent of males between 15 and 61 years old were interested in the game. The NBA was reported to be the most popular sports league in the country.

  Two players drove that popularity more than any others. Yao Ming, the first overall pick in 2002, and Yi Jianlian, the sixth overall pick in 2007, were both Chinese nationals playing in the NBA. Their presence on league rosters helped the NBA place its products in somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 retail locations across China. The approach of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing added further momentum.

  On the 14th of January 2008, the NBA announced the formation of NBA China, a joint venture with broadcaster ESPN and several Chinese companies, with Tim Chen, former CEO of Microsoft Greater China, named to lead it. The first dedicated NBA flagship store in Beijing opened on the 15th of July 2008, featuring 300 square meters of retail space and roughly 400 different items. About 1,000 people attended the opening. Merchandise sales in China were projected to grow by 60 percent in 2008, according to reports at the time. Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers consistently held the top spot in Chinese jersey sales across the 2006-07, 2007-08, and 2008-09 seasons.

• 6. Into the Virtual World

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  On the 1st of May 2007, during the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Cleveland Cavaliers, the NBA launched a three-dimensional replica of its New York City store inside Second Life, the internet-based virtual world. At launch, the NBA was described as the first professional sports league to establish a comprehensive headquarters in a virtual environment.

  The virtual store's entrance was built to mirror the real Fifth Avenue location, complete with the same double revolving doors and gold NBA lettering. Beyond the store itself, the virtual headquarters included a T-Mobile arena where users' avatars could take photographs or watch Finals footage on a JumboTron. The league's goal was to reach a global audience that could engage with the NBA brand without visiting a physical location.

  Separately, in 2004, the NBA Live video game series for home consoles introduced an in-game EA NBA Store feature, where players could spend points earned through gameplay to purchase digital shoes and jerseys. That feature predated the Second Life venture by three years, suggesting the NBA had been exploring digital retail extensions well before virtual worlds became the dominant conversation.

• 7. Relocation and Renewal

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  The original 666 Fifth Avenue store closed on the 13th of February 2011. The NBA's executive vice president of global merchandising, Sal LaRocca, explained the closure plainly: the landlord's rent demands had simply grown too high to sustain the location. While the league searched for a permanent replacement, it operated a temporary, smaller store at 590 Fifth Avenue, which remained open until August 2015.

  The search ended at 545 Fifth Avenue, where the new permanent NBA Store opened on the 21st of December 2015. The New York location is operated by Fanatics, the online retailer that manages licensed sports merchandise across multiple leagues. The store at 545 Fifth Avenue carries forward the same function as its predecessor: a retail anchor and an event venue in what the NBA once described as "the world's most important city."