When it comes to brick-and-mortar MMA retail stores in the US, OTM Fight Shop seems to be the king of the hill. They're in all the major "MMA" cities (Vegas, HB, Albuquerque, etc.). They sponsor a lot of major events. And speaking from my experience of MMA stores in Orange County, CA, they have the most selection of the major name brands in clothing and gear, bar none. The Huntington Beach location just doubled their retail space recently and has even more gear and apparel now. Orange County has smaller shops such as Bushido in Irvine or Bear Essential in Fountain Valley, but these don't carry the reputable brands. (I've purchased Bushido labeled shoes and Thai pads and the quality wasn't the same as a Fairtex or Windy). The OC also has Budovideos, a great online retailer, but their retail store in Garden Grove is very, very small. Better to look on their website first.
However, there's a new chain which may prove a worthy adversary for king of the hill status: UV MMA (
www.uvmma.com). They just opened their first store in Costa Mesa (south of the 405 on Bristol /b/ Paularino and Baker). It's not a huge store. They don't have a lot of gear. OTM has way more selection in terms of gear and equipment. Prices are typical. They devote part of their shelf space to supplements, which I don't think OTM does. And the overall appearance and display was professional (as opposed to mom and pop looking).
But what really impressed me about them was the quality of their apparel. Many of the major name brands are available. But IMO, in light of limited retail space, they made very strategic choices in which of the shirts from the major brands would be offered. I'm pretty picky about unique and aesthetically-appealing design, and the shirts they offered seemed to be chosen with those factors in mind. To be honest, I thought that their apparel demonstrated a keener eye for design than what's offered at the OTM HB location. (Of course, that's a very subjective opinion.)
So UV stood out because like OTM, they offer the major brands (as well as some smaller ones like Familia Gladiatora), but their selection of clothing was perhaps even better than OTM.
What makes them a potential competitor to OTM, though, is that they're looking for franchisees with the intent of opening other locations across the US. In 2008, per their website, they plan to open locations in San Francisco, Austin, Temecula, Columbus and Kirkland.
Bottom line, I like to go to brick and mortar locations so that I can try things on and see how they feel and fit. I also hate shipping costs. Now, I have a legitimate choice beyond OTM. I'd probably be more likely to go to OTM first, especially for gear, but for apparel, I'll definitely be visiting UV MMA again.
