(Newswire.net — April 22, 2014) New Orleans, LA, Louisiana — Hal Collums Construction in New Orleans was selected to construct a highly visible pop-up store to display Nike shoes and apparel as well as Michael Jordan’s Pinnacle brand of sportswear during the 2014 NBA All-Star game. Located on the edge of the French Quarter at the corner of Canal and world famous Bourbon Street, the pop-up would be ideally positioned for maximum exposure for Nike’s promotion.
The construction plans, designed for Nike by Tangram of New York, actually called for two separate stores housed within the same building. One store would be to open to the general public, but access to the second shop would not. The second store, the Pinnacle Boutique, featuring Jordan’s Pinnacle brand, would be hidden behind a “camouflaged” exterior to conceal its true identity and to emphasize its exclusiveness.
“We acquired and installed an old weathered roll-up metal door,” Hal Collums explained. “That door, along with the rusty sheet metal siding we installed, and the sign above the entry that read, ‘Crescent City Iron Works’, hide from everyone who was not in-the-know that the shop was really a boutique for Michael Jordan’s Pinnacle brand. However, the goal of the other store was to create an eye-popping storefront that would capture the attention of everyone who passed by. And it certainly did that.”
After the contract was signed and the building permits obtained, only 12 days remained to transform an existing Foot Locker shoe store from an “ugly ducking” into a “beautiful swan.” The inflexible date of the NBA All-star game tip-off put intense pressure on Collums and his crews. “We were able to meet the nearly impossible deadline largely because of the skilled and dedicated workforce,” Collums said. “Individually, and as a team, they take great pride in accomplishing feats like this as much as I do.”
While Hal Collums Construction oversaw the project as a whole and performed all construction and installation, the fabrication of the custom millwork was subcontracted to its sister company, Central City Millworks. So, the successful outcome was a combined effort.
But, once the big game was over, the crews had more work to do. The nature of the project being a pop-up store required that it “pop-down” even more quickly than it went up. On Monday, February 17th, the day after the Sunday All-star game, the Hal Collums construction crews began de-construction of both shops. By the end of that day, the Foot Locker shoe store reappeared without damage to the historic building that housed it. Collums added, “Our company has extensive experience and is well regarded for the restoration of historic buildings in our historic city, so taking good care of this building was a piece of cake.”
When asked if he would take another pop-up store job considering the pressure of such a fast-paced project, Collums replied, “We enjoy what we do, and we especially enjoy the satisfaction of successfully completing a challenge like this. Yes, I’d happily do another one.”
Hal Collums can be contacted at the company by phone at 504-899-1345
504-899-1345
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