A look into the massive new Lululemon store in Chicago with yoga, food

CHICAGO, He. – Lululemon opens its biggest store in its history on Thursday morning, and you can do more than just shop there.

The store located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood at 944 W. North Ave is over 20,000 square feet – about four NBA basketball courts. It includes a restaurant serving smoothies, salads, burgers and beer, fitness studios, a meditation area and unique products inside.

The first floor is dedicated to women's merchandise – Lululemon's iconic leggings, sports bras and yoga pants, as well as accessories such as water bottles, backpacks and line of care items. recently launched by the company.

The second tier includes Lululemon's largest assortment of men's products, including its famous ABC trousers, underwear and high antiperspirants. The second floor also has three different studios to hold daily classes: one for meditation, one for yoga and another for high intensity workout classes.

A restaurant called "Fuel" is also located on the second level and serves "powerful bowls" at $ 12 with kale and roasted sweet potatoes, smoothies at Acai Bay at $ 10 and a glass of broth-based $ 8 bone. It also offers cold nitro coffee and kombucha on tap, as well as many take-away snacks, including chocolate-covered bacon. You can even order a Beyond Meat burger for $ 13, accompanied by roasted mushrooms, avocado and sriracha ketchup. Lululemon also has an alcohol license to sell beer, wine and a selection of cocktails.

For those who want to sweat before or after a bite, classes such as hip-hop yoga and guided meditation cost $ 25 each. Customers can buy courses in packs of five, ten or twenty at a slightly reduced price, with about six to ten courses a day, the company said. And it offers Lincoln Park a unique advantage that it has never tried before: customers can wear some Lululemon clothing for free during workouts to test it before deciding if they want to buy it.

The spacious and tiled white locker rooms for men and women on the floor have showers and locker rooms.

And downstairs, Lululemon has a store space devoted to local businesses. It starts with the goods from Flowers for Dreams, a Chicago-based flower delivery company.

Nowadays, most buyers "look for more than one transaction" when they are looking for retailers, said Celeste Burgoyne, executive vice president of global innovation for Lululemon in the Americas, in an interview. She added that Lululemon would hold other events at the Lincoln Park store, such as movie screenings and concerts. More than 100 yoga practitioners arrive from around the world later this month for a special class. And these efforts are all tied to the company's mission to play a bigger role in the communities where it sells, she said.

The glitzy new Lincoln Park store offers a good overview of Lululemon's future. The company said that by about 20%, approximately 10% of its store fleet could mimic the location of Lincoln Park, as it evolves into an "experiential" model that integrates activities for customers, beyond simple search for material. It's a way to differentiate and compete with the Amazon e-commerce giant.

So, why start in Chicago? Lululemon, headquartered in Vancouver, opened one of its first stores in the United States in Chicago in 2006. According to Burgoyne, Lululemon will "test and learn" from here.

Here's a preview of the Lincoln Park Shop.