At New Fremont Digs, Brook CEO talks about returning to the office, Global Trade – Public Radio KKX

The center in the center of Seattle has observed an outburst of new activity this year, as Amazon and others workers return to the office five days a week.

And more foot traffic means more business for places that take care of locals.

“The lounge, the shine of the shoes, the chemical cleaning, those types of companies that were really oriented towards people working in the city center,” says John Scholes, who runs the association in the center of Seattle.

He said Amazon, as a company with the most downtown employees, sets a tone to everyone else.

“I think their solution and their move will affect other employers who are fighting for the same reasons.”

Other companies based in Seattle, who are considering their plans to return to the office, is Brooks.

A “easy solution for us”

Running Brooks is much less than Amazon, but it also boasts a level of global brand recognition.

Brooks has grown to 500 staff in Seattle in recent years, enough growth to give rise to a larger corporate headquarters in Fremont.

It is located a little north of the center of Seattle, along Lake Union and, of course, along with the Burke-Gilman entertainment path.

The new building, adjacent to the Brooks existing one, is full of small touches that remind you that Brooks is a running shoe company.

There is a huge interactive map of road routes in Seattle. There is a luminaire that looks like shoes hanging right in the middle of an open atrium.

“We just had a mayoralty of employees where we had people gathered on all floors while updating them in business,” said Brooks Dan Sheridan’s CEO.

Among the topics we discussed when we talked in his office: how new tariffs will affect the shoe industry that relies largely on imports and how Brooks dealt with the “return to office”.

Interview accents

Brooks move to new office space while other companies shrink their imprint

It was a pretty easy solution for us. I want to say that not that investment in the office space is an easy solution, but for us we build physical products for runners, we build programs that are integrated all over the world. So when we thought of space, we just realized that we should be together. And so through the pandemic and through ’23 and ’24 we have already moved on three solid days to the office. And the truth to say, our product teams are here five or six days working with the product puzzle.

To persuade employees to return to the office

He went through phases, right? I want to say that you are fighting some trends, in ’22, where everyone used to be home … There was a little transition. We went for two days and then three days.

We are now settling in this three -day [in office] Working week that works for us.

About sales in China and opening a showcase in Shanghai

Every time we get market, there must be a few truths about us. One, strong population of runners, and China is already the number two market in the world … They have over 450 marathons in China right now. So the growth of sports is just incredible.

And as we open our store, what we see is to manage communities and manage clubs to activate in our store. So our play book that works here in the United States is translated into China and we are many scourges on the market and our results are beginning to show it.

About what it might mean shaking in the global commercial policy for Brooks

New administrations – there are always changes, right? The big one, who is in the news, is obviously tariffs.

And the secret in shoes and athletic shoes is that we already have many, very high tariffs coming out of Southeast Asia. Call it north by 20% of athletic shoes, and if more tariffs come, it will be a little criminal not only for Brooks, but for the whole industry. And in the end, we will probably have to increase consumers prices because we continue to invest in research and development and innovation.

So when the puzzle changes to the financial level, you have to make a choice.