Nike recently relaunched their retail location at the Westchester Mall with an emphasis on customization through a Tee-Bar and a Nike iD Studio where consumers can customize apparel and footwear. We went up to check out the store recently and was blown away by the combined offering from the Nike retail store along with Nike iD and the Tee-Bar. Similar to all Nike iD Studio experiences, each appointment is with a design consultant to help with the options and sometimes technology.

With the addition of customization, the NikeStore at Westfarms Mall is now offering private events and intimate shopping parties for guests. These events offer the unique ability to experience the Nike iD Studio, where guests can showcase their individual style by designing one-of-a-kind footwear. Customization design consultants are on hand to assist with every creation. The event space is free with the purchase of gift cards for every guest and can be reserved after-hours with or without catering.

The fabric of modern Japan is being woven into the streets of New York! With the autumn opening of UNIQLO's highly anticipated new global flagship store, SoHo will finally get to experience the contemporary Japanese style that has long been missing from this hot, international fashion mecca. UNIQLO is Japan's most popular apparel retailer and a worldwide leader in casual wear. The brand's mission is to empower all individuals through the clothing they choose to wear. Rather than become characterized by a brand, UNIQLO encourages its customers to integrate its pieces into their own unique style.

UNIQLO's SoHo global flagship will be the brand's largest retail store anywhere in the world, featuring unique products and styles that will only be found there and a dynamic, cutting-edge store environment to make the shopping experience personal and fun. To ensure its success UNIQLO has recruited many of the industry's top talents, stars and arbiters of style to design and manage the huge SoHo flagship.

Bringing UNIQLO to SoHo is about more than just introducing Japan's favorite clothing brand to the rest of the world it's also an opportunity to express UNIQLO's essence as a unique, distinctly modern Japanese brand. UNIQLO's SoHo global flagship will be the most significant example of Japanese retail culture outside of Japan and a model for the future of UNIQLO's global expansion.

In a quite isolated block in the streets of queens with the most heat of sneakers per square inch in New York City, is Secret Society. In business for well over 5 years, but before called Kickz Inc. and KickzStore.com (the online shop) have joined forces and merged in 2005 to create the main destination spot for luxury sneaker/streetware in Queens and quite possibly all of NYC. With a consistent flow of hard to find and exclusive sneakers make this a powerhouse among its peers in the hardest city to make it in the sneaker scene. With its down to earth employees also makes the shopping experience a welcoming one as well. Secret Society is a well rounded company and rather think of themselves as a lifestyle company rather than just another boutique, from party promotions, art to fashion, they do it all.

Located two blocks from the LIRR and thirty-minutes from Manhattan in the town of Rockville Centre, Extra Butter is poised to become the preeminent sneaker boutique of suburban New York. A community hotspot for borough-dwellers and a destination for serious collectors and casual consumers who appreciate vision and creativity in fashion and merchandising, the store carries everything from Puma Clydes and the latest Nike and Jordan releases to apparel from New York streetwear companies like ONLY, Mighty Healthy and Mishka.

With its slick, all-black interior and strings of circular bulb lighting, Extra Butter is a sleek canvas for the hypercolor hues and style hybrids that populate the displays. Bright white stripes of shelving cut through the black walls and, when dotted with lines of evenly placed kicks, subtly allude to the layout of 35mm film strips. Nods to the movie industry abound in the boutique, from the old school director’s chairs acting as sneaker pedestals in the storefront windows, to the glass encased candy counter at the register. A projector-ready movie screen has also been installed for special screenings that will coincide with seasonal activities, holidays and special releases.

”What is Extra Butter? Back in the day, something was “butter” if it was extra smooth, super-refined. You picked up a pair of new kicks and said, “Ooh, that’s butter.” Nowadays you would say, “That’s hot.” or “That’s fresh.” Extra Butter is old school. Our service is old school attentive. Our gear is throwback mint. We are disseminators of style, offering up the components for the construction of individuality and forward fashion sensibility. Every shoe, every t-shirt, every cap is hand-picked for its impact on your style. This is not a paint-by-numbers operation. We are invested in a lifestyle focused on pushing the boundaries of fashion, art, music and self-expression of all kinds, placing a premium on community, innovation and an eye-popping broadcast of individuality.

Special Sauce is a premier retail purveyor, with its foundation based within the skate and snowboard community since 1994. The collective consists of likeminded individuals sharing the same philosophy, by staying on the cutting edge of the latest freshness to drop, in street culture, lifestyle brands and action sports. Sauce is a living entity which has evolved into a universal movement, supported by their in house brigade of Skate and Snow advocates, Floor Rockers, DJ's, Aerosol Assassins, Chess Demons, and overall worldwide FAM network.

Special Sauce's two original store fronts are located in Bayshore, N.Y., totaling 7,500 sq. ft., and specialize in skate/snow brands and hard goods. With the the growth of their clientele, they have opened up their doors with a new boutique for 2009 in the exclusive area of Huntington Village, located approximately an hour outside of NYC. This 3,600 sq. ft. Rococo color inspired space maintain emphasis on exclusive street wear brands and footwear for both the gents and ladies. With a seasonal rotation, staple brands include: Upper Playground, Nike SB, Hellz Bellz, RVCA, Altamont, Cubannie Links, Stussy, Oakley, Burton, Mighty Healthy and more.

In Summer '09 the second floor will house an open gallery space which will feature: Sauce office and Rawthentix (RAW Creative) in-house publicity, shopping showroom (by invitation), host and sponsor events that will include seasonal brand Pre-line releases, artist exhibitions, listening parties and a variety of brand collaboration projects.