Sports apparel retailer Rally House opened seven stores in five states this weekend, a record for the company. The new stores are in Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Illinois and Arizona. Rally House now has about 160 stores in 17 states and an e-commerce store.
The new locations are in Coralville, Iowa; the stadium at Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas; and the Sooner Mall in Norman, Oklahoma. Rally House opened three stores in Illinois — at Baytowne Square in Champaign, at Fox Valley Mall in Aurora; and at St. Clair Square in Fairview Heights. An Arizona store has opened at Arizona Mills in Tempe, the first in that state.
Rally House CEO Aaron Liebert thanked the company’s loyal customers and hard-working team members at the store and corporate levels for enabling the retailer to “broaden our reach” by opening seven stores in one weekend. The family-owned specialty boutique retailer is known for offering merchandise that features NCAA, NFL, NBA, MLB, NFL and MLS teams, Rally House also offers locally inspired apparel, gifts and food.
In addition to familiar and popular brand names like Nike, Adidas and New Era, the recently opened Rally House locations will also offer a localized offering of items from the Iowa Hawkeyes, K-State Wildcats, ASU Sun Devils and gear featuring pro teams, including the Chicago Cubs, Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings and STL City SC.
Rally House grew out of an earlier business, Mabel’s Kitchen, a catalog featuring Kansas-related apparel, gifts and merchandise. That business, established by Tim and Mabel “Peg” Liebert, eventually evolved into another business named Kansas Sampler.
The Kansas Sampler business offered merchandise specific to state and regional college and pro sports teams and had five stores in the Kansas City metro area. Rally House emerged from the Kansas Sampler business in the late 2000s, the company says on its about us page.
“Much like each person, no two Rally House stores are identical,” the company says. “They each carry merchandise customized and tailored to the specific collegiate and professional teams in that area.” In addition to team apparel, the retailer also offers its own Rally Brand merchandise.
