Adidas will close Northeast retail store
MLK Jr. Blvd. - Although neighbors say they are sad to see the store go, it won't hinder plans for the area
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
STEPHEN BEAVEN
After a decade there, Adidas America said Monday that it will close its landmark retail store at the corner of Northeast Alberta Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Adidas will not renew the lease for the store, which is expected to close in the second half of 2007, marking the end of a retail outlet that opened with great fanfare as an anchor in the redevelopment of MLK.
Developers and neighborhood leaders said they would be sad to see the store close. But they don't expect Adidas' plans to hamper growth in the area, thanks to a number of nearby projects under construction.
"It's a disappointment of course," said Bernie Kerosky, of the Portland Development Commission, which is financing several projects along MLK. "But we don't see it as a fatal blow."
In fact, community leaders said that in recent years the store has had little impact on the surrounding area.
Adidas hasn't done much to promote the store and had not worked closely with local leaders for several years, said Willie Brown, the interim executive director of the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods.
But Andrea Corso, a spokeswoman for Adidas, said that the company remains committed to the Portland area, with its North American headquarters on North Greeley Avenue and three additional retail sites.
Though Brown and others said the store didn't appear to attract many customers, Corso said it was not being closed because of poor sales.
Rather, the store is no longer "a strong strategic fit" for the company's retail plans, she said, adding that she could not elaborate.
The decision to close is an ignominious end for a store that opened, in part, to provide jobs and training in Portland's urban core.
Developer Ray Leary worked for Adidas in 1996 and had pushed the apparel-maker to open a store on MLK as a means of acknowledging the inner city, which had helped fuel the company's sales.
Leary credits Steve Wynne, who headed Adidas America in the second half of the 1990s, for making sure the company focused on the community in Northeast Portland.
That focus paid off, Leary said Monday. Of the first 27 employees at the store, 18 went on to full-time jobs with the corporate parent.
"That was the goal," Leary said.
Leary has long since left Adidas and is now putting together the Vanport Square project at 5225 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
His project and others have signaled a resurgence on MLK in recent years, perhaps softening the sting of Adidas' announcement.
But Adidas will still leave an empty storefront later this year. Whoever moves in, Brown said, should be prepared to work closely with the community.
"If you're coming," he said, "you're going to be a part of it, or we'll make sure you don't come."
Stephen Beaven: 503-294-7663;
stevebeaven@news.oregonian.com
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