Rittenhouse Scores Big As JD Sports, The Global Sports Brand, Opens Up At 16th & Chestnut
Offering a wide array of popular shoe brands, clothes, and accessories, the neighborhood finally has its big sportswear store.
In the city known for its love of sneakers, it’s only fitting that the neighborhood has more hip footwear options than it can shake a stick at. And now, with JD Sports sliding into the former H&M space at 16th and Chestnut which had been there for well over a decade (RIP).
As we shared in June, the UK-based brand that also owns Finish Line opened up its 3rd Philly store on 16th and Chestnut today, providing a dedicated sportswear store that the neighborhood was missing since Modells and City Sports left (RIP.)
While JD Sports has slid into what used to be H&M it’s NOT laid out the same way. For one thing, they only occupy the first floor, and have the basement for storage space. The result is different from what we had first imagined, as we assumed that they’d used both floors.
However, they’ve managed to pack in quite a bit while managing to make it feel spacious, and we heard a tenant known for interactive experiences is slated to take on the 2nd floor.
The shoe selection is really impressive. You walk right into the heart and soul of the store: the sneakers, of course. They have a nice variety of Nike for men, women, and kids that includes some collector favorites (almost everyone had more than 2 bags at checkout), Adidas, New Balance, Vans, Reebok, Saucony, On Cloud, Uggs, and more Nike.
The offerings for New Balance and Vans weren’t extensive, which made perfect sense as those brands have their dedicated stores on Walnut Street. And with Atmos’ departure (RIP) we’re excited to once again have Nike sneakers that we can shop IRL. Yes, Jordan World of Flight store is coming here but it looks more experiential and (we’re thinking) will have shoes that are more unique. However, Nike has a new/old CEO, so who knows.
The store was bustling yet the process of getting our shoes wasn’t difficult. We flagged an associate who called in the “order”; the screens hanging from the ceiling are for tracking your shoe order, and not showing sports highlights, as we had initially thought, which is better!
We were excited to see that this JD Sports store also had a nice selection of athleisure and brands that are a bit uncommon, like Juicy Couture (welcome back!), Hoodrich, and Sonnetti.
JD Sports also carries a good selection of accessories including backpacks and hats where it’s clear they are NOT pandering to the local sports team fans, as evidenced by the presence of Yankees hats.
Someone else who was excited that JD Sports has opened here? Cooper Dejean who hung out in the one Nike area for a bit (there are many Nike areas).
Really happy the store is open and JUST in time for the holidays too! To see shoe drops be sure to follow them on Instagram
