Online Sneaker Marketplace HypeClub Moves Offline With SoHo Store
By Nicholas Rizzi March 30, 2021 10:46 am
reprints![](https://commercialobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/03/image002-3.jpg?quality=80&w=755)
Online sneaker marketplace HypeClub will move offline with its first brick-and-mortar location in SoHo, Commercial Observer has learned.
HypeClub signed a lease for 2,900 square feet at 285 Lafayette Street between Prince and Jersey streets, according to landlord Kushner Companies. The storefront includes 900 square feet on the ground floor and 2,000 square feet on the lower level.
A spokesperson for Kushner declined to provide the terms of the deal, but a CBRE report showed the average retail rents in the area ranged from $332 to $571 per square foot in the fourth quarter of 2020.
(Disclosure: Joseph Meyer, chairman of Observer Media, owner of Commercial Observer, is married to Nicole Kushner Meyer, a principal at Kushner Companies.)
HypeClub operates an online platform where users can buy and sell sneakers and streetwear clothes, with some merchandise, including a pair of Nike Air Force 1, fetching prices of around $2,000. Its first physical store — where sellers can also drop off shoes — plans to open early next month, according to Kushner and its website.
“HypeClub has been developed by a lifelong sneakerhead for sneakerheads,” Zachary Brown-Kullman, founder of HypeClub, said in a statement. “Unlike corporate conglomerates, HypeClub now serves the best interests for buyers and sellers of the sneaker community.”
Kushner handled the deal in-house via Max Swerdloff of RAE Leasing, while Fritz Kemerling of Atlantic Retail handled it for the tenant.
“It was a pleasure working with HypeClub on this deal,” Kushner Meyer said in a statement. “Their new concept, in conjunction with our recently announced lease with Major Food Group for a new restaurant across the street in the Puck Building, will breathe life into the neighborhood and these historic properties.”