Route One skates into Seven Dials on Tokyo time

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jul 13, 2021

Multi-brand streetwear and skate retailer Route One has made its London retail debut with the launch of a store on Neal Street in the increasingly high-profile Seven Dials area.

The timely opening of the 2,000 sq ft space within the Shaftesbury-operated neighbourhood coincides with the first-ever inclusion of skateboarding in this year’s soon-to-start Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Route One will stock over 100 skate and street brands including Nike SB, Vans, Adidas, Huf, RipNDip, Polar, Santa Cruz and Thrasher, together with brand’s own signature label.

The store also serves as a new destination for what’s called ‘Route One’s Launches’ — a standalone section of the brand’s website and app “dedicated to bringing customers the latest limited-edition sneaker releases”, it said. 

In line with this, the store will be showcasing an experiential, subterranean area called ‘The Vault’. Due to launch in August, it will be dedicated to housing the retailer’s one-of-a-kind sneaker archive.

As well as its curated retail operations, Route One’s online offer also provides a “hub of content, including interviews with the world’s top action sports athletes, behind-the-scenes footage, and interactive competitions”.

Richard Boissevain, brand owner and co-founder, said: “While we have considered opening a store in London for some time, this space in Seven Dials really stood out to us due to the precinct’s strong retail reputation and notoriety as a hub for the wider London skate community. 

“Route One has established a loyal following in the capital, so it is fantastic to launch in such a prime location of the city and grow this online community through our one-of-a-kind store experience.”

It joins several recent retail entrants to Seven Dials, including menswear brand L’Estrange, which has recently relocated from a pop-up space to a permanent bricks and mortar home on Earlham Street, as well as homeware and lifestyle brand Olive Jennings, the first of Shaftesbury’s Start Up with Seven Dials winners, who have taken pop-up space on Monmouth Street.