Sports Direct has unveiled a three-story, 90,000-sq.-ft. flagship on Church Street in Liverpool that merges shopping, training, and immersive sports experiences – including the UK’s first HYROX Performance Centre.
Sports Direct, under Frasers Group, has launched what it calls an “elevated” flagship in Liverpool, situated at 35 Church Street. The 90,000-sq.-ft., three-floor store combines retail, wellness, and immersive brand activations, aiming to transform how consumers experience sport retail.
The store features an Everlast Gyms+ occupying the full third floor, with UK’s first HYROX Performance Centre housed within it – one of only four globally. In addition to fitness facilities, the flagship includes zones such as a running concept with gait analysis, an outdoor concept zone, and a Women’s Training area with curated brand personalization.
Brands from Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, On, Puma and Asics share space alongside lifestyle labels like C.P. Company, HUGO, Levi’s, Paul Smith, and New Balance. Each floor is zoned by training type – running, football, outdoor, racquet sports – and includes experiential touchpoints like interactive football skill zones and agility test floors.
Why it matters
This Liverpool flagship serves as a case study in the company’s Elevation Strategy. Over 50 percent of Sports Direct stores are now “elevated” destinations where, according to Frasers Group CEO Michael Murray, “sport, performance, wellness, and style are part of the same experience”. It’s an experiential ecosystem designed to build brand loyalty and increase dwell time. By integrating fitness, technology, and storytelling, Sports Direct’s Elevation Strategy may become a benchmark for how mass sports retailers reclaim relevance in physical spaces.
Zooming out
Many sportswear and retail brands are racing to turn stores into community hubs or branded destinations. The Liverpool flagship reflects that shift with the most comprehensive concept yet: the lines between sport, wellness, tech, and commerce blur. Exposure to training zones, curated brand experiences, and physical engagement may become prerequisites – not luxuries – in retail. As sports and lifestyle brands search for loyalty levers, this model will test whether immersive retail can sustainably convert footfall into commerce and retention.
What’s next / What to watch
• Where Sports Direct will replicate this flagship format in other major cities
• How gym membership cross-sells and product sales linked to experiential zones perform.
• How digital integration – such as augmented experiences, app tie-ins, and real-time product suggestions based on training data – will contribute to the success of the “elevated” store, and which integrations will perform best.
