Did you know that Vans has only eight employees in New York? And that’s an improvement over the one employee the shoemaker had in New York three years ago?
Well, Vans, the popular West Coast purveyor of checkered canvas slip-ons is trying to change all that. The Wall Street Journal reports that the firm is on Oct. 16 opening a private skateboard park called the “House of Vans” in Greenpoint:
[It’s]part of a broader strategy to beef up Vans’s presence in New York and the East Coast.“Brooklyn is one of the best Vans strongholds outside of California,” says Doug Palladini, Vans vice president of marketing. “As big as Vans has become, we’re still really only known in a few key spots outside of California.”
The 24,000-square-foot warehouse will be closed to the public, and will be used primarily by skateboarders endorsed by Vans. In addition, the space will be used by Vans to host events for retail shops, magazines and artists.
But while “you can’t just show up,” Mr. Palladini said there will be occasional chances-a special event through a local skate shop, for instance-for outsiders to get inside the park and roll around. He declined to say how much the company is spending on the facility.
More here.
