Stephen Curry is joining a club few professional athletes can relate to: the retail space.
Curry is set to be in Asia next week promoting the launch of his Curry 12 shoe with Under Armour, and while over there, the Warriors star will open a Curry Brand store in Chengdu, China.
Curry hinted at the opening during an event for the shoe held at the National Basketball Players Association on Wednesday.
“Basketball is everywhere and we want to be everywhere,” Curry said when asked about growing his brand. “And opening up our first Curry Brand store over there—I’m excited about just that entire experience of what does it mean not just here in the U.S., but internationally and what we can do to make sure people know what that splash logo means and what it stands for, and what Curry Brand means and where Under Armour is going.”
There are few details about Curry’s store other than its location and that it will be run in association with Under Armour, who the sharpshooter has been with since 2013. It’s likely Curry line shoes and clothing will be for sale, but will the store also feature some of his golf products or other sponsored athletes, such as De’Aaron Fox? The Kings guard will launch his own signature shoe under the Curry line in December and will accompany Curry on the Asia trip.
Curry’s store launch comes during a difficult year for Under Armour. The company has had layoffs and reinstalled founder Kevin Plank as CEO after ousting former Marriott executive Stephanie Linnartz. Curry has long been popular in China; notably, in 2017, his jersey was the country’s top seller, besting Kobe Bryant late in his career in addition to LeBron James. Can his shoes carry their own store?
Despite the success of their individual brands, few professional athletes can claim a retail store dedicated to their own line. And the success is mixed, which will make Curry and UA’s venture more interesting.
Tom Brady had a TB12 fitness center on Boylston Street in Boston that closed in 2023 after operating for just three-and-a-half years. The space offered personal training, a smoothie bar, and a retail space. In October, the second location in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where the Patriots stadium and operations are based, also closed after a decade, reportedly due to Brady ending his business partnership with longtime trainer Alex Guerrero. The TB12 locations in Las Vegas and Florida also closed.
LeBron James’s House Three Thirty in Akron, Ohio, his hometown, has a retail shop but isn’t dedicated to his Nike brand, and the operation as a whole is focused on providing hospitality opportunities to underprivileged locals.
Similarly, Giannis Antetokounmpo and his three brothers have three retail stores—two in Athens and one in Milwaukee—for their “Antetokounbros” line, but there are no products from his “Freak” line with Nike.
Succeeding in the retail space has been a challenge for brands much bigger than Curry’s, and the store’s success, or lack thereof, won’t even go down as a footnote in his legacy. But doing so would be a nice win for a company that’s been reeling and another example of Curry bucking a trend.
