Birkenstock announced the opening of their newest US store in Naperville:

Birkenstock is continuing its U.S. retail expansion with its first Midwestern store in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Ill.

According to the German footwear brand, the new store is located at 20 W. Jefferson Avenue and offers Birkenstock’s full footwear collection for men, woman and kids, along with the Care Essentials line of premium, all-natural foot care products.

David Kahan, president of Birkenstock Americas, told FN that the company decided to open this location after hosting a pop-up at local retailer Naperville Running Company a few years ago.

“[The pop-up] gave us our first glimpse into just how special the local community is,” Kahan said. “The passion and dedication of our fans, particularly around the post-run sport world was truly inspiring. It highlighted the opportunity to connect in a bigger way throughout the year, and we’re excited to return with a dedicated space to share the full Birkenstock collection with Naperville.”

Naperville has a vibrant suburban downtown with a mix of national and local stores and restaurants. It is also a wealthy suburb.

According to the Birkenstock store locator, they have many resellers: nearly 4,700 locations. But they operate only 9 of their own stores. Here are these locations and their urban/suburban status:

1. Naperville, IL – suburban (outside Chicago)
2. Nashville, TN – urban
3. Sevierville, TN – suburban (smaller suburb outside Knoxville)
4. New York, NY – urban (Soho neighborhood)
5. Brooklyn, NY – urban
6. Deer Park, NY – suburban (outside New York City)
7. Larkspur, CA – suburban (outside San Francisco)
8. Venice, CA – suburban (outside Los Angeles)
9. Glendale, AZ – suburban (outside Phoenix)

From this list, six of the nine locations are suburban. Birkenstock stores are in the suburbs of the country’s three largest metropolitan areas – New York, LA, Chicago – and are also outside several other sizable cities – Phoenix, San Francisco, and Phoenix. Can we expect new locations outside Dallas, Miami, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and Philadelphia soon (the remaining top 10 metropolitan areas by population)?

Additionally, Birkenstock has stores in two cities: two locations in New York City and one in Nashville.

Residents from all over the United States can access Birkenstock products online or through thousands of retailers. But the company has picked these largely suburban locations to put a company store and that tells us something about their intended market and their brand.