© Lane Turner/Globe Staff The Lord & Taylor store on Boylston Street was closed at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Dick's Sporting Goods has leased 118,000 square feet of space for a new "experience" concept called the Sports House.
Prime real estate in the Back Bay will soon move from Balenciaga to Beat Houses.
Dick's Sporting Goods plans to open an experiential sports concept in the Back Bay on Boylston Avenue in the former Lord & Taylor building: "We're creating a new experience in Boston."
"New DICK'S Sporting Goods Store Opens at Boston's Prudential Center," the website says.
The Boston Business Journal was the first to report it. Dick's Sporting Goods declined to comment, as did Boston Properties, although the landlord said this week that he "began redevelopment" at 760 Boylston Street, leasing the entire building on behalf of an anonymous tenant.
Opening in 2021 in Victor, NY near Rochester, Dickey's Sports House will include a running track, climbing wall, ball cages, a golf simulator and golf course, as well as apparel and other merchandise. The retailer opened additional stores in Knoxville, Tennessee and Minnetonka, Minnesota.
"House of Sports DICK'S explores the future of retail with a variety of in-store and out-of-store sports, broad community integration, superior customer service supported by a passionate and knowledgeable staff, and cutting-edge technology to facilitate communication." with sign. The retailer said in a statement about the first store.
The Dick's Sports House, with its lawns and walkways, is part of a larger trend as retailers increasingly look to create new storefronts.
Installing a climbing wall is a way to compete with online sales, manage physical stores, and create valuable social media moments that help promote your brands. This is also how we use the big footprint. Selling bags and jackets in a 118,000-square-foot store isn't very profitable today.
In addition to the Prue-run sports house, Boston real estate properties are betting big on the tower experience. The office developer is running marketing tours of the View Boston Observatory, an "incredible experiential exhibit" on three floors of the Prudential Tower, which houses the former Hub restaurant and event space. View Boston is expected to open later this year.
"The city of Boston is gearing up for tourism growth and we're seeing a great response from the industry," Brian Kapp, executive vice president of Boston Properties, told analysts Wednesday. “It's amazing how it happened. It's just amazing."
Meanwhile, Lord & Taylor's three vacant locations at Braintree, Natick and Burlington shopping centers plan to convert old stores into bioscience labs, while Sears stores in the area are repurposed to include labs, gyms and restaurants. , other.
Janelle Nanos of The Globe contributed to this report.