How Nike and a Changing NYC Led to the Downfall of Alife Rivington Club — and What’s Next for the Storied Retailer

Alife Rivington Club delivered the best in footwear and streetwear to New York City for 20 years, all while hosting culture-shaping events on the Lower East Side. But abruptly, the era has come to an end.

Last week, Alife GM Treis Hill revealed to FN that the store had closed on April 1 and would not reopen. Hill broke the news of its closing on his personal Instagram account, offering his perspective on what Alife Rivington Club meant to the city, the community it fostered and its impact on fashion.

Now, Hill is opening up on what led to the demise of the famed store, which included the loss of its Nike account in 2012.

“We did a lot from 2012 to 2018 — some of our best Alife Sessions were then, a lot of events. We watched the A$AP kids grow up there, Bari hanging out all the time and Yams — rest in peace — and A$AP Rocky would come by all the time and Nast. A lot was happening culturally for the city and downtown youth. Sneaker-wise, we just didn’t have the premium sneakers that we used to and fought endlessly to get them back,” Hill told FN.

Aside from losing the Nike account, Hill explained how the LES — which once provided the atmosphere Alife needed to support its community — had changed and no longer offered what once made the neighborhood special.

But the store’s closing did not mark the end of Alife retail. “We are looking for the right space for us,” Hill told FN last week, “something that can live another 20 years.”

Here, Hill further detailed what the future of Alife retail will look like, reminisced on his favorite in-store events and detailed why the closing of Alife Rivington Club was inevitable.

What were the events that led to the closing of Alife Rivington Club?

“I’ve never really spoken publicly about this, but in 2012, after the global economic crash, we were in a situation with Nike where we were on on-credit terms, we needed some kind of reprieve for one week, we reached out to the guys in marketing — who were always on our side — and they were like, ‘We’ll help you whatever way...