SLAM at NIKE’s House of Hoops

By Khalid Salaam

As we are known to do occasionally we collaborate with our sneaker company peoples in various ways that we hope benefit everyone involved. What is and isn’t beneficial is relative but in this case it’s a win-win. SLAM columnist Omar Mazariego and I were invited to check out Nike’s new House of Hoops before it’s official opening day. We were basically casing the joint for its effectiveness (which means we were there to make sure the spot wasn’t garbage) and shooting a promo while there. So we get there the Saturday before last (Nov 17) and we both were amped up. While I’m not an actual sneakerhead I’ve always been into sneakers and followed the styles throughout the years with a decent amount of passion. Now O, that dude is a sneakers head no doubt. I’ll be in here organizing the KICKS section and he’ll come in and start commenting on how some shoe looks like something else that was out in ’94 and I’m sitting there like okay whatever you say.

So we get there and we meet with Nike execs Archie McEachern and Dean Stoyer who explain to us the idea behind House of Hoops and why they think the time to do it is now. In the video Omar and I are walking through the store talking about what we see. The store is nice, modern without trying to be too trendy. It’s in Harlem across from the Apollo Theater so location-wise its great, easily accessible from the tri-state area and all NYC boroughs. The video is self-explanatory so I won’t give you guys a bunch of words to read. But know that the store is top-notch and they carry basketball shoes and product, have a dope Jordan section and carry Converse as well. So basically Nike did it again.