Shanghai, China - New Balance, one of the world’s leading running brands, today announces the opening of its first Experience Store on Shanghai’s Huai Hai Road. It is New Balance’s second Experience Store in China, following the opening of its first on Beijing’s Qianmen Avenue last year. Senior executives from the company, including Regional General Manager, Asia Pacific, Darren Tucker, and China Managing Director, Michael Wellman, attended the grand opening to witness this exciting event. “Our goal is to produce the best quality and most comfortable running shoes for our consumers,” explains Darren Tucker, Regional General Manager, and Asia Pacific. Proudly expressing the business philosophy of New Balance, the century-old American sporting brand, he continued, “New Balance sets a new standard of retail excellence within the global marketplace to celebrate our innovation and pay tribute to our heritage. We hope that consumers will engage with our rich brand story that is 104 years in the making.”

Experience the Rich Heritage
Occupying more than 200 square metres, the New Balance Experience Store is located on the first floor of the Novel Building, Shanghai. With its charming brick walls, wooden display windows, nostalgic old telephones and iron chandeliers, the interior décor creates a sense of subtlety, which captures the legacy and essence of New Balance. The store feels both classic and modern, perfectly encapsulating the brand’s heritage and innovation. The Experience Store is designed such that a panoramic view of the ceiling unfurls the brand’s past, present and future, telling Shanghai the magnificent story of New Balance’s one hundred and four year history in making shoes.  

Rooted in China, Promoting a Running Culture
In addition to this new store in Shanghai, New Balance will soon open ten more experience stores in major cities across China. China Managing Director Michael Wellman explains that New Balance thinks very highly of the Chinese market, “New Balance has been working to provide the highest quality running shoes to Chinese consumers since we entered the Chinese market in 2003. These new Experience Stores offer a completely original shopping experience to our customers. Meanwhile, we hope that we can bring the idea of a running culture, which is so popular elsewhere, to China. This year, we will hold our New Balance “6km Run” in six of China’s major cities. We will also be organizing a variety of activities for runners of all levels. Let’s get running!”

Bringing Together Performance and Lifestyle
The new Experience Store on Huai Hai Road, Shanghai displays New Balance’s entire product line: sports footwear, apparel and a variety of sports accessories, available for all seasons and for men, women and kids, bringing the complete New Balance experience to consumers. Prime position is given to New Balance’s series of high performance running shoes. New Balance has always been at the forefront of technology and innovation in performance footwear. As a complement, the lifestyle series caters to customers looking for fashionable colors and elegant designs. These two series perfectly integrate high technology with fashionable design, exhibiting New Balance’s traditional craftsmanship and its modern spirit.
For over one hundred and four years, New Balance has passionately and diligently held fast to the aim of producing the best quality and most comfortable products.

Editor Note:
104 Years of Expertise in Designing Running Shoes
It was 1906 in Boston – the city of marathons – when William J. Riley discovered, in his own backyard, that a chicken could use its three claws to maintain perfect balance. As a result, Riley was inspired to apply the balance principle to his design of the most advanced arch support system the world had ever seen. This new support system afforded more comfort and a better fit than ever before. This legendary story is the humble beginning of what has evolved into today’s New Balance. In 1972, New Balance’s present CEO Mr. James S. Davis bought the New Balance Company. This spirit of professionalism and passion has accompanied the brand from the day it was founded 104 years ago, to its newest presence today, in Shanghai, China.

Find Your Own New Balance
New Balance today provides top-quality shoes, offering comfort across six different widths and two different heights. While more expensive, New Balance firmly believes that choosing a suitable pair of shoes will help you to become the “leader” of your life. Better performance depends on the fit of your shoes: a pair of shoes has to match the unique structure of your feet, providing all-round support. New Balance staff will help you find the most suitable size, best way to tie shoelaces and the shoe that best fits every customer. This concept of customized offerings will definitely place New Balance at the forefront of the Chinese running shoe industry and make it the first choice for runners.

First Choice among Elites
New Balance has a high reputation among runners. New Balance is the only athletic shoe manufacturer still making shoes in the US. With its unique brand culture and excellent craftsmanship, New Balance has garnered extremely high brand loyalty in the U.S. market. American ex-Presidents, Reagan, Bush and Clinton, President Obama and Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, are all New Balance devotees. These elites have unconsciously become the best “representatives” of this brand!