The Original House of Sport

 

     Dick's Sporting Goods first started the House of Sport format in the Rochester, NY suburb of Victor.As of this writing, there are now 12 House of Sport format locations open or in various stages of development. With Victor being the first location for this prototype, I naturally had to visit and check things out. What makes House of Sport so differently? Like their website says; "It's more than a store. It's an experience." 

    In other words, the store highlights products through interactive experiences. Such experiences include a rock climbing wall, virtual golf bays, a batting cage, an outdoor track field used for events and more. It is also worth noting that this format is at least twice the size of a normal Dick's Sporting Goods- making it an ideal mall anchor. As an example, the Victor location makes use of a former Sears- occupying about 3/4 of the space. While no doubt the normal format will continue to be used as well, it becomes rather obvious why Dick's future plans are heavily reliant on this format. 

A Modern McDonald's Without the Eyebrow

Being a new McDonald's location, you would come to expect an obligatory eyebrow; but as you can see by the blog post's title, this location does not!

Not an eyebrow to be seen here. Now I like this style of design. Before moving into the interior, here's a closeup of the entrance and another view of the picnic tables.

Restrooms to the right of the ordering area.

Now for some interesting architecture designs:

3 styles of floor tile. The left area with the shoe is for the menu area. The center bit serves as a walking path; and the right is for the seating areas. 

Ceiling details.

Soda fountains.

Modern menu set-up.

I leave this post with a rather interesting sight:

Apparently ordering can get quite hectic since the orders may jump a hundred numbers or so at a time!