Designing an ‘Icon’ store for Crocs’ City-Centric Customers of NYC

Location: 543 Broadway, New York, US
Launch: July 2025
Project Scope: Discovery, Strategy, Concept Creation

In the heart of SoHo – New York’s epicentre of culture, fashion and footfall – Crocs has opened a first-of-its-kind store. Positioned at 543 Broadway and spanning 60 metres from Broadway through to Mercer Street, the store signals a new era for Crocs retail.

This isn’t just a new store, it’s a bold brand statement. Connected, immersive, and commercially focused, this pinnacle store represents the most tailored Crocs experience to-date, bringing to life a new concept designed by Briggs Hillier: Urban Energy.

Our role was to help define this next chapter. Building on our long-term partnership with Crocs – including the global concept now rolled out to hundreds of stores worldwide – we were tasked with creating a space to showcase range, build connection, and embody the spirit of ‘Come As You Are’ in one of the world’s most influential retail destinations.

THE BRIEF Crocs approached us with a vision: to create a store that captures the vibrancy of the SoHo neighbourhood, showcases the full expression of the Crocs brand, and delivers an elevated experience with global impact.

This wasn’t just about theatrics. It had to be commercially astute, highly functional, and reflective of Crocs’ maturity as a brand. With capacity for high daily footfall, the space had to be operationally efficient in how it delivered moments of joy, discovery and expression.

Crucially, this would be the first Crocs store to offer a dedicated ‘served’ area for a more premium, more curated experience, in addition to its traditional self-serve model. The concept also needed to accommodate exclusive product drops, campaign-led storytelling, localised features, and spaces for personalisation.

This was about creating something special. Something that embodied Crocs today – and hinted at what Crocs retail could be tomorrow.

DISCOVERY As with every project, our approach began with deep discovery. Having already conducted global brand and customer research to inform the global concept and its 2.0 elevation, we built on this foundation to dive deeper into the unique energy of SoHo and the competitive landscape of New York City.

We audited local and international competitors, examined cultural behaviours, and mapped the Crocs customer mindset. From family missions to tourist curiosity and fashion-forward collectors, the audience mix was broad – and our concept needed to respond to all.

We also studied spatial and operational considerations. With a long, narrow footprint and dual entrances on Broadway and Mercer Street, we needed to understand how the space could flex between function and immersion. Every journey needed to work and every touchpoint needed to earn its place.

This foundational research informed our design strategy, from product zoning, customer flow, and visual merchandising to moments for pause, play and personalisation.

STRATEGY The creative and commercial strategy focused on creating flow with purpose. Designing movement through the space that encouraged dwell time, discovery and exploration, without creating congestion. Creating an elevated experience that introduces new levels of service, materiality and storytelling. Ensuring that every design decision is rooted in the brand’s identity and its ethos: Delightfully Democratic. People-Purposed Design. Inherent Simplicity. Imaginative Innovation. Unapologetic Optimism. Confidently Comfortable.

We developed multiple journey scenarios to address the store’s dual access points. Entrances were treated differently – Broadway as the bold, high-footfall draw and Mercer as the quieter, more curated experience.

Product placement, service model design, zoning for exclusive EXP product, and flexibility for campaign rollouts were all considered. We created opportunities to layer experience – from the launch zone to the Jibbitz Bar – while maintaining clear sightlines and navigation throughout.

It’s important that the space was adaptable and scalable, while making sure that it remained completely unique.

CONCEPT CREATION The final concept, Urban Energy, builds on our Crocs 2.0 global elevations, dialling it up for a city audience. Visually bold and emotionally resonant, the store fuses utility with self-expression – celebrating the full breadth of Crocs’ offering.

The space unfolds in distinct phases. A large digital screen greets customers at the Broadway entrance, drawing links to the dual-aspect window display – a double-sided, flexible storytelling space with suspended banners and plinths designed for visual merchandising impact.

The journey begins with a launch zone housing some of Crocs’ latest products, followed by the served footwear area – a new model for Crocs that includes softly illuminated shelving for new drops and seamless storytelling, storage plinths, and rich faux leather seating. This early zone introduces the curated tone that sets this store apart.

Next, the self-serve area introduces the breadth of the core range, including the iconic Classic Clog. Here, wall bays feature colour-blocked product with a selection of Jibbitz’d Crocs designed by in-store artists.

At the heart of the store sits an area for personalisation – an immersive space designed for creativity and community. With two oval Jibbitz Bars complete with digital screens, and suspended tickertape rafts, the space is tactile, welcoming, and designed for play.

Moving past the Bodega – a Jibbitz market offering rare, collectible, and limited-edition charms – the journey flows into the Family Licensed zone, built for flexible storytelling across midfloor and wall bays. From there, the Kids’ area invites creativity at a smaller scale, with kid-friendly seating and personalisation woven throughout.

Just before the cash desk, a final Accessories touchpoint offers a last moment of discovery, and a recycling chute provides the chance to give worn Crocs a second life.

The space culminates in the Crocs EXP zone – the only place in the world to buy Crocs EXP, the brand’s most exclusive range. With a more muted palette, reclaimed parquet flooring, stainless steel displays, and gallery-style lighting, this area feels premium and private – accessible via its own Mercer Street entrance.

WHAT’S NEXT? The soft launch drew an overwhelmingly positive response, with queues forming outside and strong early engagement from attendees. Built to handle high footfall and even higher expectations, the SoHo store is set to become both a commercial powerhouse and a brand beacon, underpinned by its new creative and strategy-led design.

Crocs has ambitions to bring this Urban Energy concept to other key global cities, using the SoHo destination as a blueprint to connect with city-centric customers around the world. In the meantime, our collaboration continues – with work already underway to transform the 34th Street store into a bold new 2.0 iteration of our global concept.

Photography credit: Crocs