Amazon Scores Stephon Marbury Line

Point guard Stephon Marbury's career with the Knicks is in limbo and his first venture into the apparel business crashed along with Steve & Barry's bankruptcy, but he's still finding interested parties to carry his sneaker-and-clothing line. Amazon.com picked up the baller's business, opening his gear to a market as vast as 7 million people. Marbury first stepped into the retail world with affordable sneakers aimed at underprivileged kids. But when Steve & Barry's filed for Chapter 11, Marbury lost his main seller. Now he's not only rolling out sneakers, but clothing, DVDs, CDs, books, fragrances, and a line of apparel from rapper Bow Wow. He's already launched Starbury.com with plans for music and book downloads. "I'm a department store," Marbury told the New York Post. "Steve and Barry's is over, but I survived"

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“This is bigger than basketball,” he said. “This is a chance to create change in people’s lives.” Under the Amazon deal, Marbury will have a 12-person staff based in Durham, SC, and will pay 7% of revenue to Amazon for handling expenses. While the business remains online for now, Marbury is exploring the option of opening six stores in the future. “Being in Steve & Barry’s put me in 126 stores,” he said. “But now I have access to six million to seven million people a day who shop at Amazon.”