City Sports Opens Its Eighth Store in the Boston Area

Snapshot of the outside of the new City Sports taking up space in an old bank.

Athletic apparel is now chic on the streets. Even Tim Gunn himself, in the most recent episode of Project Runway, (where they created designs based on Heidi Klum’s New Balance collection) said that activewear is a billion dollar industry and has his approval for street wear. With everyone from Forever 21 to Saks Fifth Avenue creating activewear collections, it makes sense that new stores carrying apparel would open in areas that were previously lacking the merchandise.

City Sports will open it’s new location this week at 225 Franklin Street, the company’s eighth store in the Boston market (City Sports’ hometown). The location seems perfect. There’s an Equinox gym across the street, a Pret a Manger, which serves healthy sandwiches and salads, right next door, and Post Office Square park just caddy-corner from the new store. In a neighborhood that seems to be hollowing out, this is welcome news.

The new space is a massive 8,000-sq-ft filled with athletic apparel and equipment. But the cool part about the new store is that they built it in an old bank. The retail operations will mostly be located in the old State Street Bank vault on the ground floor. Paying homage to the original vault, there will be a 16-foot installation that includes more than 2,000 real pennies. This is the second City Sports store opening this year; the City Sport’s Chestnut Hill location at The Street opened this past spring. The new store will also have a 50-foot track to test sneakers.

In a statement, City Sports’ CEO says:

“As we continue our long-term growth plans, we are thrilled to be opening our newest store at Franklin Street, right in the center of our home city,” said City Sports President and CEO Eddie Albertian. “The financial district is a central location for many of our customers, so we are delighted to be able to offer the convenience of a City Sports store exactly where they live, work and play.”

And old bank vault will now house athletic apparel. Photo provided.