After months of anticipation, Footaction is finally opening the doors to its first store in Canada at Toronto’s Eaton Centre. If you’ve been to the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto in the past few months, you have most likely seen this store front and walked past it numerous times wondering when it will open. Well, on Friday, April 7th, 2017 at 8 AM, Canada’s first ever Footaction store will be opening and we received an exclusive invite to their early access event on Thursday night to get a first hand look at the new space.

Once I arrived downtown and made my way through the Eaton Centre, I saw that a line had begun forming hours before opening for this invite-only event and I knew that this was going to be a fun night. As we got checked off the guest list and made our way inside, we were greeted by Footaction employees who took groups of the invitees and gave them a tour through the store.

With our store guide, we moved throughout the entire space, highlighted by the Nike Kicks Lounge, the PUMA Select, and the adidas Collective areas. Each area had its own distinct vibe and it is safe to say that Footaction really outdid themselves with the execution of this store.

The Nike Kicks Lounge had some amazing displays and the products that were stocked did not disappoint. There were numerous colourways of the SF-AF1 and Foamposite, as well as a great selection of numerous Air Max silhouettes including the “Air Max Day” Air Max 1 Ultra 2.0, numerous Flyknit Air Max 90s, and the “Pure Platinum” VaporMax.

The PUMA Select area was one of my personal favourites with its minimalistic design and some of the best collaborations currently in the industry! You will find collaborative collections with some of the world’s best streetwear brands, Trapstar and Jeff Staple, as well as a project with one of the world’s best artists in Rihanna and the FENTY collection. For those wanting to feel nostalgic, there is something for you as well with the Sesame Street collection!

The adidas Collective space was also extremely well put together, featuring numerous Ultra Boosts and NMD colourways, as well as some great clothing products such as the XbyO collection. For those who are looking for some classic adidas silhouettes, don’t worry, as they carry a wide array of Superstars and Stan Smiths on top of everything.

This is not your average footwear-centric store by the way, they have a great selection of clothing by cool brands such as Publish, Peace Collective, FairPlay, Champion, and Naked & Famous. This can be your one stop shop for everything from clothing, sneakers, accessories, and more!

Shoutouts to DJ Scotty Scratch, always providing these events with some great music, as well as the OG Toronto legend, SKAM, for his amazing “Own It” artwork being completed throughout the night.

A big thank you to the good folks over at Footaction & Foot Locker Canada for the invite and congratulations for a successful launch! We hope to see more Footaction stores throughout Canada in the near future!

It’s events like this that brings the sneaker community together and it was great to see every one of you! Special shoutouts to our Canada Got Sole brothers, Alvin & Lawrence, as well as Sean Go. Don’t forget to check out Sean’s video recap of the event on YouTube (below)!