In 2012, Nike made a swift change in sneaker purchases by canceling midnight sneaker releases altogether. In addition to enforcing this rule to independent retailers, Nike moved its online midnight releases to Saturday mornings at 8AM EST, and it has followed that somewhat controversial release time for two years. 8 AM EDT is a rather early time to get out of bed on a Saturday, but it was exponentially worse for those living West of the EDT time-zone (consumers in the West coast had to rise up by 5AM or miss the sneaker release entirely).
Beginning this Saturday, Nike will begin with a new release time of 10 AM EDT, which will apply to the Air Jordan 11 Low “Concord”, Nike Kobe 9 EM “Laser Crimson”, and Jordan 6-17-23 “Dark Concord”. Whether or not last week’s online debacle surrounding the Yeezy Foams and others acted as a catalyst for this change is yet to be determined, but 10 AM is much more accessible to all interested parties. No word on whether or not this change is permanent, but we’ll keep you updated on that front and be sure to note that this weekend’s big-ticket releases on Nikestore are now scheduled at 10 AM EDT.