In what city did Nike open its first retail store in 1966?

Nike opened its first retail store in Santa Monica in 1966.

The store was located at 3107 Pico Boulevard, marking an important step beyond Blue Ribbon Sports’ early sales model. Before opening a storefront, co-founders Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman sold imported Japanese running shoes largely at track meets and from Knight’s automobile.

At the time, the business was still called Blue Ribbon Sports rather than Nike, Inc. The company had been founded in 1964 and initially distributed Onitsuka Tiger footwear. Its first retail location gave customers a permanent place to see and buy the products as the company’s sales grew.

Los Angeles can seem like a plausible answer because Santa Monica is part of the greater Los Angeles area, but the question asks for the city itself. Seattle is also connected to Nike’s early advertising history: the company hired Seattle-based John Brown and Partners as its first advertising agency in 1976. Nike’s first store using the Niketown concept opened much later, in Portland in 1990.