adidas Originals Store Covent Garden, London

Covent Garden, a popular shopping district in London, is historically known for it’s fruit and vegetable markets but has long since become a place ripe with tourism. Providing attractions like the Royal Opera House, the London Transport Museum, various shops and boutiques, and even street performers, it’s no surprise that adidas Originals would choose such a location for their casual sportswear clothing store.

With one foot in Berlin and the other in London, it was only natural that eatmoreshoes headed over to the Covent Garden O-Store to get the low down from the Gareth Potter (the store manager).

When did adidas Originals first put up their store at Covent Garden?

The adidas Originals Store in Covent Garden was opened in August 2004.

And how would you describe the surrounding area?

The store sits in the middle of Earlham Street, which is a shopping road that joins the famous Covent Garden shopping area to the beginning of the edgier and more independant shopping streets of Soho.

What sort of adidas Originals stock do you carry at the store?

We sell purely new and current season adidas Originals products. We also sell any recent collaborations and special collections like Originals by Originals (ObyO), including Jeremy Scott and David Beckham by James Bond, as well as adidas Originals x Burton.

Whats unique about this store that sets it apart from other adidas Originals stores in the UK and around the world?

Uniqueness within adidas Originals stores is mainly down to the people who work and shop there. We try to elevate the customer experience so that while we may offer footwear and apparel available elsewhere, our knowledge and customer focus makes it a pleasure to visit. Although our product offering may change soon to more exclusives and special editions, but that is a work in progress at the moment.

That’s exciting to hear! Speaking of customers, what sort of clientele do you usually get? Any celebrity appearances or infamous sneakerheads stop by recently?

We see everyone from 13 year old kids to old fellas in their 70s who’ve been buying adi since the 50s! And everyone in between. Do sneakerheads leave their bedrooms nowadays? I never knew! [laughs] We see some heads rolling around but we like client confidentiality in these parts. We see the odd surprise person too, Benicio del Toro trying to cop size 13s, Ben Stiller buying tracksuits, we see all sorts.

Sounds like you keep busy and the store is well known. How do you see your business being connected to the sneaker scene in London, or even Worldwide?

I see a connection with other Originals stores around the world but we’re a little removed from the sneaker world right now. We provide for the larger group of people who want the brand, mainly in apparel, and it’s fair to say that hard to find, limited, and exclusive trainers are not a huge part of our remit right now. But I’m told that things are changing, however change can take a while.

What sort of events are thrown at the store? Do you have a past event that was most memorable in mind?

We had the Superstar 35th party here, giving away the 35th to competition winners. We’ve had in store DJs, bands, and total transformations of the store into all sorts of crazy things.

Any special releases or events planned for the future that you can share with us?

Nope. Joke. [laughs] We’re having a pretty crazy store revamp in December, a little bit of Bavaria coming to WC2. And I’m sure the Olympics will be jumping off in the store some how, but I can’t be talking about such things right now!

Well, eatmoreshoes certainly looks forward to what may be coming in the near and distant future. Thank you to the adidas Originals Covent Garden team for taking the time to give us a bit more insight into what they do and how they do it.

written by Dylan Cromwell

photography by errol