LA Clippers open team store inside Intuit Dome — with customizable jerseys and basketballs
The Los Angeles Clippers opened its first official team store inside Intuit Dome just ahead of the Inglewood venue's grand opening.
Fans can find newly designed jerseys, limited edition hats made in collaboration with label New Era, Lululemon products and customizable merchandise from team jerseys to basketballs that can be engraved right at the store. Intuit Dome will open to the public on Aug. 15 ahead of the coming NBA season, with a sold-out Bruno Mars concert that day marking the Inglewood venue's grand opening. Called "The Flagship," the brand new 5,000-square foot retail store officially opened Thursday.
On Friday, fans with special access are able to visit the store before it's unveiled to the general public over the weekend. These are fans signed up with a mailing list and membership giving special access called "Chuckmark-certified" in tribute to the team's mascot.
"This is the first time in our history that we actually have our very own store," said Claudia Calderon, chief marketing officer for the Clippers. "It just gives us an ability to do things a little bit differently."
"One of the biggest things that we've been able to do is now we have our very own private label called Courtside Supply," she said.
That label features hoodies, hats and some specialty clothing items like bomber jackets.
It's a unique finding in the NBA. In fact, the team actually had to buy a license from the league in order to create their own in-house merchandise brand, Forbes reports, and an online-exclusive launch of the label sold out immediately.
Calderon said some other benefits to having the Courtside Label as the Clippers' very own brand is that they can collaborate with other brands like New Era and cater their products better to fans.
"The thing that we heard a lot from our female fans was like, 'Hey, there's not enough products that are tailored to me," Calderon said. "So we put a really strong focus on bringing women's products to life, and then we didn't want to leave anybody out."
"We got baby, toddler, youth and even pets," she said. "So we got a little something for everyone."
But what really marks the new Clippers store apart is its Creation Station, a place where fans can fully customize jerseys with whatever they'd like and even have basketballs customized by having them engraved with a laser. Calderon said it's her favorite store feature.
When the store first opened Thursday, fans couldn't believe the layout, Gillian Zucker, CEO Halo Sports & Entertainment, told Forbes. Halo is the umbrella brand that owns the Clippers and Intuit Dome and was launched by Clippers owner Steve Ballmer this year.
"The fans who were here (for a pre-opening event) were blown away," Zucker told Forbes. "They were saying, 'This is our shop?' That is the reaction I hope we will see. We have spent three years building it."
Calderon, who is also a spokesperson for Intuit Dome, said both the LA team and venue are trying to really cater to fans with features like charging stations at every seat so you never have to worry about your phone dying during a game or concert. Food at the venue will draw inspiration from the culturally diverse food scene of LA and will be served at several sites throughout the venue.
"We want to make sure that when you're there, your experience is absolutely blown away versus what you expected," Calderon said. "Every decision is really built around the fan."
