By Annabel Ames and Allan Lengel
It's been more than three decades -- Hudson's closed in 1983 -- that a mammoth, corporate retail store has graced Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit.
For years, many of the stores along Woodward Avenue were boarded up. It had an eerie feeling. The Compuware Building opened in 2003 and the next year, Campus Martius opened, giving a glimmer of hope to the depressed area.
Only in recent times have a collection of new retail shops popped up along Woodward, including Moosejaw and the John Varvatos men’s clothing store.
None are nearly as big as the 22,000-square-foot Nike store that opened Thursday at 1261 Woodward to a lot of hoopla and festivities and a frenzy of shoppers. The building, which has a main floor and a basement for women's shoes and apparel, is owned by Dan Gilbert. It was once occupied by the F.W. Woolworth Co.
Nike had a little presence in downtown Detroit in 2004 when it had a section in the Athlete’s Foot store at 1448 Woodward. But that store closed after a few years, according to the Detroit Free Press.
On Thursday, shortly before the store opened, employees rushed outside where customers were in line, formed a circle and started chanting: "We are Nike, we are fun, we're Detroit, we're number 1."
Besides the merchandise, one of the big attractions was MSU Coach Tom Izzo, who gave out autographs and posed for selfies with customers.
The hope is that the big store will act as an anchor and lure other big chains, possibly even Apple.
The line outside stretched down the block.
Nike employees chanted before the doors opened.
The basement of the Nike store, which featured women's apparel.
People were scooping up all types of merchandise.
There was no shortage in variety of shoes.
There's some interesting shoe fashion.
MSU Coach Tom Izzo was a big draw
