Under Armour to open first retail location soon

Baltimore's Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA) is opening up its first retail location soon in the spirit of the company's brash, emotional and engaging marketing. In other words, stepping foot into an Under Armour store will make customers feel like they are in one of the company's engaging and sweat-strewn television commercials. That's just fine with Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank.

Although I'm wary on standalone retail locations for single brands (Apple being the lone exception), this one will probably work. The key is to engage the customer in emotional fashion and connect with why they are there in the first place. Did you notice there is a difference between walking into an Apple store and a CompUSA? Sure, one is a single brand and the other is a retailer with hundreds of brands. Is the experience the same? Not at all.

Under Armour's slick and well-produced commercials (a-la Gatorade's neon-sweat commercials) appeal to the male testosterone junkie better than most, and recreating that experience upon entering and browsing a retail location will score major points with the demographic that shops for sports apparel at an Under Armour store. Plank says it all here: "What I don't think the world needs is a slightly better athletic retail store ... it's our job to redefine the paradigm of what the consumer and the athlete are looking for." There you have it. Me-too athletic retail strategies are so 1990, eh?