Welcome to Sportopia, Selfridges season ticket to summer. Throughout July and August, Selfridges Birmingham becomes a sports venue like no other, with an unmissable 30ft climbing wall, weekly run clubs, a bespoke Team Selfridges sports kit and even a sports-themed party for kids. Sportopia welcomes everyone to support, socialise and play.
As part of the campaign, Selfridges has collaborated with local grassroots community Active Inclusion to create vibrant and energetic window displays that are focused on climbing. Active Inclusion Network empowers underrepresented communities to engage with outdoor and sporting activities.
Sportopia Social Climbers: The Climbing Wall Birmingham
For six weeks, from Thursday 25 July, visitors to Selfridges can scale the walls at the atrium in the Birmingham store. Inspired by Selfridges’ 100-year legacy of sporting spectacle, the climbing wall will be an unmissable experience: radical in design and made to bring people together. The 30 ft climbing wall is being run in partnership with Rock Up, with a mission to empower individuals to nurture personal growth, self-confidence and physical well-being, and will be installed in the atrium space in the centre of the store.
The wall is bookable for groups of up to six at a time, managed by professional climbers. Guests can take on challenges with friends by climbing the custom-designed wall via 45-minute sessions. Open to adults and children over the age of four, tickets are available to purchase from £9.50 via the following link and can climb the wall Monday – Saturday: 10am – 6pm, and Sunday 11am -5pm.
Sportopia Run Club
Join the first ever Selfridges Birmingham run club in partnership with Better the Next Day for a 3k run around Birmingham City Centre. Created by Birmingham-based hybrid athlete, Jake Williamson, the community aims to provide a safe space for anyone who wants to get moving. The event is open to all guests, and runners will get a sweet treat at the end of each session. Selfridges Unlocked Keyholders will also receive a gift bag at the end of each session. Every Thursday from 11 – 25 July and 1 – 29 August at 7pm, sessions will start at the atrium on level 1 and can be booked online via the following link.
The Little Sportopia Party
Families are also invited to celebrate the launch of Sportopia at The Little Sportopia Party on Friday 1 August 9am-11am. Across Kids and Toys on level 1, customers will be treated to live music, crafts and sporty games, plus complimentary sweet treats, refreshments and the chance to win a variety of prizes. Tickets are £12 per child and adults can join for free. Places can be secured via the following link.
Sportopia Product
As ever, Selfridges summer series of product launches and services inspire and offer solutions, rooted in the world of sport. Vintage kit, merch mania, the most-wanted collaborations and collections founded and backed by the biggest names in sport offer Selfridges take on the best sportswear obsessions now. A limited edition, commemorative SPORTOPIA merch collection includes home and away kits, recycled frisbees and accessory of the season – the foam finger.
Selfridges Chief Creative, Laura Weir says: “We are ready for a huge celebration of sport at Selfridges this summer. Sportopia presents a universe of leisure and recreation, inspired in turn by major international sporting events, by local, grassroots sporting communities and by the fascinating culture of brand fandom. Selfridges’ unique approach to delivering special and unexpected retail experiences will inject some positive, active energy into our stores.”
100 years of Sporting Spectacle at Selfridges
Selfridges shoppers have been entertained by sporting experiences since the 1920s, when a swimming pool, ice rink and even a shooting range appeared on the roof. In 1929, the Golden Arrow, a record-breaking car which broke the land speed record in Daytona travelled from the USA to be exhibited at Selfridges. The store hosted an annual “Sports Meeting”, which in 1943 included an egg and spoon race and an “ankle-judging competition”. More recently, in 2017 a roof-top Crazy Golf Course created with Bompas & Parr featured Seven Wonders of London (Selfridges first hosted Crazy Golf on the roof in the thirties). In 2018, creative and muse Michele Lamy opened a boxing club in Selfridges and in the same year, the world’s first in-store skate bowl opened in menswear on 1, at the corner of Oxford and Duke Street, with views over the city.