Sub-$20 performance athletic shoes and apparel will go on sale in Hawai'i at a new Steve & Barry's superstore opening Friday at Waikele Center.

The Port Washington, N.Y.-based retailer that launched a line of low-cost shoes with basketball star Stephon Marbury of the New York Knicks yesterday announced the scheduled 9 a.m. opening for the 24,000-square-foot store in space at the center formerly occupied by CompUSA.

Steve & Barry's had initially hoped that its store would open late last year, but delays pushed back the opening since November when The Advertiser ran a story about the popular retailer planning to enter the market.

The new store is part of an aggressive growth plan for Steve & Barry's, which was established by two childhood friends, Steve Shore and Barry Prevor, in 1985 with a discount collegiate apparel store at the University of Pennsylvania. After the first mall-based Steve & Barry's opened in the late 1990s, the chain has roughly doubled in size almost every year. Today there are about 260 stores in 38 states.

Steve & Barry's has fueled much of its growth with a unique business model that in 2006 produced a basketball shoe with Marbury that retailed for $14.98 in contrast with other player-branded shoes selling for $100 to $200.

The Starbury, which Marbury wears during games, earned decent marks from Consumer Reports and led to a line of about 200 items, including a variety of shoes, jackets, jeans, a work boot, hats and other accessories selling for $14.98 or less.

In November, an apparel collection and court shoe designed with NBA player Ben Wallace of the Cleveland Cavaliers became available at Steve & Barry's, which also sells merchandise lines affiliated with tennis star Venus Williams, golf pro Bubba Watson and actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Amanda Bynes.

Next month, the retailer plans to launch a new surf and skate line with famed local surfer Laird Hamilton.

Steve & Barry's also concentrates on collegiate-branded products, and licensed brands not big in the apparel industry such as World Wrestling Entertainment, Snap-On Tools, Marvel Comics, General Mills, Ford, General Motors and Hasbro.