Under Armour's New Store Inside The World Trade Center Has One Mind-Blowing Feature

Under Armour (UA) - Get Report has bet big on connected fitness by acquiring an array of app makers and unveiling a suite of new hardware devices, and it wants visitors to its newest retail store to be aware of that huge wager. On Tuesday, the red-hot athleticwear and footwear maker opened the doors to its store at Westfield's new mall inside the World Trade Center. The store is 100% Under Armour through and through: inspirational sayings and photos of sports stars plastered on the wall (including a photo of product endorser Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), a full assortment of performance apparel for men and women, and a large presentation of colorful running and basketball footwear. But the showstopper was a gigantic digital clock hanging from the wall that tracks people signing up to the company's fitness apps such as MapMyFitness in real-time. At the time of our visit Tuesday afternoon, the clock read that Under Armour had over 179 million users to its connected fitness apps, up from about 175 million exiting the second quarter. Connected fitness is a relatively new venture for Under Armour. Since 2013, Under Armour has shelled out about $710 million to acquire three of the main health and fitness app developers: MapMyFitness, Endomondo and MyFitnessPal. The acquisitions have provided Under Armour with a community of over 179 million registered users (and counting...) who log information such as what they eat and their running routes. Earlier this year, Under Armour debuted its "Healthbox", which is box that contains a fitness tracker called the UA Band, a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled scale called the UA Scale and the UA Heart Rate, which is a strap that fits around your chest to measure heart rate. Healthbox is one of the first sections the consumer sees when walking into the World Trade Center location. The connected fitness segment represents about 2.1% of Under Armour's sales. Sales so far this year for the business have surged 91% to $42 million -- the division has yet to turn a profit due to Under Armour's continued investment in people and technology.