FN rounds up all the store openings, closings and redesigns happening this month, from throughout the footwear industry. Send your retail news to [email protected].

Aug. 26, 2022: Louis Vuitton has opened a new men’s store at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif. This new location is the ninth freestanding men’s store in the country, and the second in California, following the Rodeo Drive opening in July. The boutique offers the brand’s complete men’s range including leather goods, accessories, shoes, ready-to-wear, watches, and fragrance. Additional heritage categories such as Louis Vuitton’s publishing, iconic hardsided trunks, and the exclusive Objets Nomades collection complete the recherché selection. The exterior window’s design is inspired by classic boardgames like backgammon and complements an interior game room spotlighting the brand’s gaming, gifting, publishing, and Objets Nomades offerings. Within the main showroom, window-like interior vignettes — similarly referencing classic boardgame motifs — serve as the game room’s walls. Fine art abounds inside the space. The ready-to-wear section features a painting by California-based artist Marcel Rozek, who pours diluted pigment onto raw canvas, creating unexpected color relationships and abstract forms. In the leather goods section, surf culture is highlighted in a work by Peter Dayton, who paints bold stripes onto wooden panels shaped to resemble exaggerated surfboards.

Aug. 25, 2022: Canadian footwear brand Manitobah will open a new flagship on Sept. 10 in its founding city of Winnipeg. This marks the first permanent store for Manitobah to showcase its collections of artisan-crafted mukluks, moccasins and lifestyle footwear. The 3,000-square-foot space will be located in the historic Forks Market and will be staffed with a team of 100% Indigenous people. In addition to being a retail hub, the store will serve as a community space to host workshops, activations, beading circles and more. It also will stock other artisan merchandise in its Indigenous Market. Sean McCormick, Manitobah’s founder and chief impact officer, said in a statement, “I’m thrilled that the new store will continue our mission to evolve our social impact approach by creating a space that gives back to the community.”

Aug. 23, 2022: Academy Sports + Outdoors has opened a new store in Atlanta, a location that consumes 50,200 square feet of real estate at 130 Perimeter Center West in the Perimeter Square Shopping Center. With this addition, the retailer now has 12 across metro Atlanta and 30 throughout Georgia. Looking ahead, Academy confirmed it plans to open 80-100 new stores over the next five years. Academy will celebrate the new opening a ribbon cutting ceremony on Aug. 26.

Aug. 19, 2022: Fendi has reopened its boutique at The Shops at Crystals in Las Vegas. The recently renovated, 5,998 square foot space, encompasses the Italian luxury brand’s women’s and men’s ready-to-wear collections, accessories, and leather goods. The house’s signature FF motif is emblazoned on white plaster over a metal canopy on the welcoming façade of the boutique.  The interior plays with materials that highlight Fendi’s codes with luxurious touches of marble and metal, paired with plush carpeting.  Arabescato Vagli marble recalls the architecture of Roman churches, creating a grandeur atmosphere, present on the floors and columns. The Crystals location is one of 3 Fendi stores in Las Vegas currently, along with Caesars and Bellagio. The brand will open a fourth location in Vegas inside the Wynn resort in November 2022.

Aug. 16, 2022: Harrods has unveiled the latest addition to its store-wide redevelopment – an expanded men’s offering featuring a dedicated grooming, fragrance and sunglasses shop on the retailer’s second floor. Designed by David Collins Studio, the new spaces are a continuation of the studio’s other work with the retailer. Considered elements including checkerboard marble flooring with metal trims, custom display units with leather detailing, and a luxurious material palette of textured glass, mixed metals, marble, dark timber and reflective surfaces throughout. The space unveils Europe’s largest men’s focused David Clulow sunglass boutique, with over 500 sunglasses on display at any given time from brands like Retro Super Future, Dita, and Cazal. In addition to grooming service at Adam Grooming Atelier, Harrods customers now have the opportunity to find a carefully curated edit of men’s skincare products from brands like Escentric Molecules, Humanity Cosmetics and Murdock, dedicated Tom Ford and Creed fragrance corners, and existing exclusive from Acqua Di Parma’s ‘Zafferano’, and Penhaligon’s ‘Mr Harrod.’

Aug. 16, 2022: Academy Sports + Outdoors has opened its first Richmond, Va. store. Located at 11861 W. Broad St., in The Corner at Short Pump, the 58,075 square-foot store brings an assortment of sports and outdoors merchandise to Richmond. Academy will host grand opening festivities from Friday, Aug. 19 through Sunday, Aug. 21. Throughout the weekend, customers can look forward to exclusive deals, giveaways, an appearance by the Richmond Flying Squirrels’ Mascots, the Richmond Raceway Pace Car on display, activations by brands sold at Academy, and food truck samples. The Richmond location marks the third of nine new stores Academy will open this year and the first store in Virginia. Academy looks forward to continuing its expansion efforts beyond 2022, with the goal of opening 80 to 100 new stores over the next five years.

Aug. 9, 2022: Abercrombie & Fitch has launched a new store design “inspired by the brand’s intention of making every day feel as exceptional as the start of a long weekend.” The new getaway-themed aesthetic is a stylish nod to a chic hotel lobby, designed to prioritize omni-channel shopping and provide customers with an immersive interpretation of the Abercrombie experience of today. Refinement and relaxation punctuate the new getaway-themed retail spaces, which include elevated fixtures and furnishings, striking wood accent walls, and styled spaces dedicated to the categories Abercrombie is most known. The retailer recently celebrated the opening of its first two getaway concept stores—a new location at Los Angeles’ Del Amo Fashion Center and another outside Milan in the Il Centro Shopping Center. Abercrombie plans to open multiple getaway-concepted stores around the globe through the remainder of the fiscal year, with even more planned for 2023.

Aug. 9, 2022: The Athlete’s Foot (TAF) announced on Monday that Joe Delphry, a TAF franchise owner since 1999, will be transitioning his seven stores to The Dahir Group. Dahir will be taking over the reins of the Atlanta, Ga. (Atlantic Station), Charleston, S.C., Winston-Salem, N.C., and Portsmouth, Newport News, and Suffolk, Va. stores as of July 1, 2022, bringing its store count to 20 locations. “We thank Joe Delphy for letting TAF be a part of his life and his family for 23 years,” Matthew LaFone, president and GM of Americas at TAF, said in a statement. “We wish him all the best in his next endeavor and look forward to working with Shady Dahir on his new locations.”