Top swimwear maker TYR lands its first store
After swimmer Katy Ledecky won four medals at the Tokyo Olympics, the all-caps TYR brand got lots of attention peaking out from under the ribbons round her neck.
The Huntington Beach, Calif.-based swimwear company then saw sales of its footwear and athletic apparel rise in sporting goods stores and online. Now it has made the move to cement itself as a standalone brand in physical retail, last week opening its first store at Simon’s Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, N.Y.
“It’s a bit of a test store. We chose to open it in Long Island, close to our corporate office in New York, so we could keep a close eye on it and really understand how the brand can stand out in brick-and-mortar,” said Joe Horton, director of retail sales and operations at TYR (pronounced “tear,” as in “teardrop).
Horton, who ran international operations for Michael Kors and was a store and operations manager for Bloomingdales, joined TYR last January to lead its charge into centers.
“The store looks like a place you’d like to work out in. Tones are very neutral and let our products do the work,” Horton said.
At the Oct. 20 grand opening, shoppers received free gifts of TYR apparel. And “Monday Night Smackdown” wrestler Natalie Eva Marie—a newly signed member of TYR’s brand team who has nearly 6 million Instagram followers—is also scheduled to appear at the Roosevelt Field store to pose for pictures and sign autographs.
Simon leasing VP Zachary Beloff said the TYR signing was part of the big mall owner’s commitment to bringing a wider variety of unique, high-quality brands to the center.
“TYR, a brand synonymous with cutting-edge fitness and swim gear, joins the likes of Lululemon, Adidas, Travis Mathew, Oakley, and Dick’s Sporting Goods,” at Roosevelt Field, noted Beloff in a press release.
The 2,200-sq.-ft. store “will be a brick-and-mortar platform for everything we carry,” said Horton.
“People will open the doors and see elevated versions of footwear and apparel comparable to Vuori, Nike and Reebok."
Expect to see TYR’S brick-and-mortar presence expand to a few key outlet centers and Class A
malls in Southern California and Atlanta, Horton said.