Tiger Oak hits the ground
running in Niketown

On the corner of busy Oxford and Regent Streets in Londons’ Oxford Circus is the largest Nike store in the world. Redeveloped in 2010, Niketown was designed to provide customers with not only a shop, but a premium retail experience.

As the name implies, the four-storey building is a concept ‘town’. The entire Nike range is brought together here, housing separate areas each dedicated to a specific sport.

Exceeding all expectations, Niketown hosts special events, interviews with sporting stars and employs the very latest in technology and online capabilities to enable visitors to customize just about every aspect of their footwear, clothing and equipment design.

In line with the Nike brand and with over 10,000 people walking through the store each day, the flooring was built to last.

Chosen for its strength and wearability, mafi natural timber flooring in Tiger Oak covers 300m2 of the flagship stores floor. The unique three layer construction and an all-natural oil finish makes a mafi floor incredibly robust.

Marc van Pappelendam, general manager of Nike UK Ltd remarked, “Nike is committed to offering consumers access to engaging, exciting and innovative retail spaces. The re-launch of our flagship Niketown London store demonstrates our drive to continue to raise our game and offer our consumers world-class shopping experiences in line with our long-term category strategy.”

Custom made in Austria, the cutting edge design of mafi Tiger Oak offers a range of over 200 different colour choices to fill in the natural crack lines of mafi’s Vulcano treated European Oak.

Vulcano heat treatment refers to the natural process mafi use to achieve our darker range of timbers. Using only heat, wind and water, it is a sustainable alternative to tropical woods.

The particular product of choice for Niketown was Tiger Oak Black Natural Oil.

The natural crack lines in these boards are filled with a black timber epoxy, contrasting the warm, rich tone of mafi’s Vulcano treated Oak. Bold and strong, the striking surface appearance of this floor fits the Nike space to a tee.

In such a highly trafficked area as Niketown, ease of maintenance is important. mafi care-free maintenance involves mafi oil soap and a bucket of warm water.

The oil soap contains natural oils and plant acids which clean and re-oil the floor every time it is mopped. As a result, the timber gets stronger over time – as will we, with a visit to Niketown!