Casuals are looking for affordable "comfort" while standing, walking and jogging, rather than seeking a shoe geared toward running performance. Word of mouth (re Brooks and Hoka) among hospital & restaurant workers, senior strollers and shops/offices with a casual dress code seems strong.
In my time working at a local running store, Brooks and Hoka were definitely our top selling brands but you really don’t have to “push” at all for it to be so. I would say most people (like probably over 75%) came in specifically asking for one or the other of the 2. With Hoka, the brand seems to thrive off word of mouth. Non-runners especially love the extreme cushion of the bondi and then they leave and go yell it from the mountain tops that they found a shoe they can wear all day at the hospital at their nursing job. Then everybody they work with comes in asking for Hokas too. Same with Brooks specifically the glycerin and ghost. We didn’t have to try at all for these 2 brands to kill it in sales- the shoes just kinda sell themselves. If anything, we would encourage customers to at least try other brand like New Balance and Saucony and On but rarely would people sway from what they came in looking for. A caveat here is that we truly didn’t see that many runners in the store I worked at- mostly people looking for a shoe to work in or a walking shoe. Even with the runners we had in the store, Brooks glycerin and ghost along with Hoka cliftons were pretty consistently top choices. We did not carry Nike. We sold next to no adidas, New Balance was probably third in sales followed by Saucony. A few Altras here and there. On is growing of course too but only because they look good. If people weren’t married to the idea of On when they came in the store and tried other brands, they would almost never win against others brands in terms of comfort.
I work part time in a specialty run store. Lots of the suggestions in this thread are right.
We have a good relationship with our Brooks and Saucony reps.
Most employees don't push Hoka but for some reason people always come in asking for them.
We received 1 order from Nike in 2020 (last quarter). It has gotten a little bit better this year but it is hard to rely on Nike for orders. We do carry both the Next%2 and the Dragonfly spike.
Adidas cut all of their specialty run stores in the area a number of years ago, wanted to offer direct to the consumer only.
I worked at a local running store for three years while in college, and a lot of the posts in this thread are pretty close to spot on. Brooks and Hoka tend to have the best word of mouth. Also their reps rocked in my region, always came into the store to set up collaborations with our weekly run club. Seems like every podiatrist recommends one of those two brands and every old guy who can finally run again tells anyone who will listen that Hokas and their cushion are the best shoe.
ON has become huge lately because they're trendy, comfortable enough, and visually distinct. Also they push marketing hard right now, so kudos to them. I joke with my friends that you can't go 20 feet in an airport without finding a pair of ONs.
Adidas and Nike are both awful for local stores that aren't pushing high volume in sales. Nike obviously realized that their website is a better profit margin and only stores like Dick's and Sports Authority will make enough money for them to care (and that's not in running specific footwear). Adidas for whatever reason has just had bad reps (in the region I worked in anyways) and their website is awful. Used to have two kids on the team I coach religiously wear only that brand, but when the wait time to get shoes from an order became 5-6 weeks they switched to Nike (partly for the cool factor). Oddly enough during the Kaepernick protesting I had numerous people tell me not to bring out a single Nike shoe until they, "Get rid of that quarterback." I didn't have the heart to tell these people Nike isn't going to hurt by losing their Pegasus sale for the day.
My old manager explained it to me this way, "Brooks and Hoka are exactly what novice runners expect a running shoe to feel like." The arch support in some models and toe box are exactly what someone who has destroyed their feet in the Nike Free Runs expect, and so they look no further. As far as New Balance, Asics, and Saucony go it is anyone's guess. I like some models from each of those brands but a lot of people never try them on because they only ask for Brooks, Hoka or ON from the get go.
Could debate all day what brand is actually the best for most people, but can't argue much with the sales. I'd bet good money that Brooks and Hoka make up the top 2 brands for most brick and mortar run specialty stores. If you throw in apparel Brooks still stays up top because they have more sports bras than any other brand and a ton of winter/summer/racing specific clothing.
Next time you're at a local race, look around at the feet of the runners on the starting line. You'll see LOTS of Brooks and Hokas. On women, the Brooks will probably outnumber all other brands. On men, it tends to be Hoka.
Answer to your question wrote:
Nike screws mom and pop running stores
Adidas trainers suck
Saucony and New Balance are love or hate on most peoples feet
Brooks and Hokas nearly always feel good
The vast majority of what everyone's been saying is true, but I feel that this post captures the general sentiment. Also agree with the poster who said On is getting in there as well because of their marketing pushes and how visually distinct they are.
Everyone feels “cushion” or “support” and they are very into how it feels. Most of these shoes aren’t responsive. The launch and the rincon are the only ones who are firm. Most people just want soft.
Former LRS employee, almost a decade of experience, two stores in two cities with the second store under two sets of management. The sales perks from brands don’t move the needle on what gets brought out as much as you might think (or as much as the vendors might hope). I sold a lot of Brooks, Hoka wasn’t what it is now when I left, so I can’t speak to them. I’d usually explain the difference between a softer vs. responsive shoe to a Newbie, and they’d request softer shoes more often than not. From there, Brooks just won a lot based on out of box feel. The margins don’t vary from brand to brand that much, so nobody is gonna get pushed. The thing to watch for is Superfeet gives better margins to Fleet Feet stores, compared to mom and pop places. At the FF where I worked we had quotas for superfeet (original owners didn’t enforce it, later owners did, part of why I left).
I’d like to also mention there is no arch support or anything in these shoes. No running shoe has it. It’s all about how the “stability” or fit of the shoe hits the arch. If I remember correctly brooks and hoka are more low profile arch fitting shoes.
Brooks and hoka are pretty clunky and idk why people still hate on Nike. The peg is literally the most consistent shoe out there. New balance and saucony have their own issues.
People forget that certain brands have certain fits.
Nike- narrow
Adidas- long and narrow
Saucony- gotten to true to size but they used to be short
Brooks- wider toe box
Hoka- true to size but a love it or hate it
Mizuno- could be same
Am I missing anything?
People need to get fitted and try every option. The shoes hardly ever cause an injury unless you go from 10mm stack to 0 over night and vice versa.
We only have ON, Salomon and HOKA here. Just an observation, 75% of the locals and tourists are in ON. 95% of the local joggers and runners are in Salomon and HOKA.
Simple comfort (Brooks) and word of mouth (Hoka).
Pros for Brooks:
1. Simplistic cushion that doesn't need to feature any gimmicky technology
2. Most of their core line fits a wide range of foot shapes.
3. Most of their core line also comes readily available in wider widths
4. They don't majorly change up the bottoms of the shoes all that often; if a Ghost works for somebody one year, it's likely to keep working for them for the next 5 years.
Pros for Hoka:
1. LOTS of people rave about how they "made such a big difference" in being comfortable walking around through the day for longer periods of time (especially nurses/doctors or people working long hours on concrete floors).
2. The foot sits down in the cushion, not on top of it, so you get a supportive cradle of material on the medial and lateral sides of the foot, giving the illusion of "arch support".
3. The rocker bottom, as long as it doesn't feel too different to get used to.
4. They're super lightweight given how much cushion material there is.
5. They've basically innovated themselves into a corner with each model because if you make the Clifton lighter it turns into the Rincon, if it gets more cushioned and supportive it becomes the Bondi, so year to year the shoes are mostly going to feel the same.
6. Once you get used to having that much material underfoot it's REALLY difficult to go to anything else because you notice what isn't there more than what the new shoe has to offer
hobby jogging harry wrote:
Next time you're at a local race, look around at the feet of the runners on the starting line. You'll see LOTS of Brooks and Hokas. On women, the Brooks will probably outnumber all other brands. On men, it tends to be Hoka.
Funny because I was talking about this with some other runners recently but our observations don’t match yours. All the people at the front are wearing Nikes and you’ll also see a handful of Endorphin Pros. Look back and then you’ll see Brooks and Hokas etc.
seikosha wrote:
hobby jogging harry wrote:
Next time you're at a local race, look around at the feet of the runners on the starting line. You'll see LOTS of Brooks and Hokas. On women, the Brooks will probably outnumber all other brands. On men, it tends to be Hoka.
Funny because I was talking about this with some other runners recently but our observations don’t match yours. All the people at the front are wearing Nikes and you’ll also see a handful of Endorphin Pros. Look back and then you’ll see Brooks and Hokas etc.
Tbf, I don't think Harry was commenting on the quality of the runners, only that they are numerous.
Fax wrote:
seikosha wrote:
Funny because I was talking about this with some other runners recently but our observations don’t match yours. All the people at the front are wearing Nikes and you’ll also see a handful of Endorphin Pros. Look back and then you’ll see Brooks and Hokas etc.
Tbf, I don't think Harry was commenting on the quality of the runners, only that they are numerous.
Yep; and if my username didn't give it away, guess where I am at local races? At all but the smallest and least competitive, I ain't at the front. In fact, the guy's post actually backs my observations rather than debunks them. Guess where the majority of runners are? In the middle to back of the pack, wearing Brooks and Hokas with me, not up front wearing Nikes.
I work in a running store. +1
I work at a running store and aside from fitting, I work a lot with inventory and procurement. Can tell you that most customers have more than likely never heard of Hoka (or “one of them hookahs”). A common practice at our stores is to bring out a couple pretty established brands (Brooks, Hoka, NB, Saucony, etc) and 1-2 other mid-market or niche brands (Altra, Diadora, ON, etc), obviously depending on foot shape, length, width. Not only does it give the customer an opportunity to try out other brands, it helps our inventory because about ~30% of the time, a customer goes with a niche brand.
Helps out with keeping those established brands in our inventory for a pretty scary supply chain situation with the covid numbers in SE Asia rising, where a bunch of these companies manufacture their shoes. Pretty much every running shoe store in America is hauling ass to take in inventory to get through a pause in supply chain right now.
As for people wanting Brooks or Hokas, obviously you’ll have people that want them for different reasons. Over the past few years, I’ve seen more and more people that ask for Hoka for work, lifestyle use, etc as opposed to very little runners/walkers wanting them. As opposed to Brooks, which many of our customer base wants them for running/walking. Seeing a lot more people want to try ON out pretty recently, too.
As for Nike and Adidas, they’re crap. Nike sends us specifically only the Pegs and Infinity Reacts. Plus xc/track spikes. Nike commonly only sends product where and when they want simply because they can. They’re one of the biggest athletic conglomerates for a reason. Adidas stopped working with us a few years ago because we weren’t seen as a high value account. Just sold our last pair of Solarglides a couple weeks ago. As for Hoka, Brooks, pretty much any run specialty company, they want to send inventory anywhere and everywhere because they need to in order to meet their margins.
Not sure if this all adds to the discussion, just like to ramble about this kind of stuff.
hobby jogging harry wrote:
Fax wrote:
Tbf, I don't think Harry was commenting on the quality of the runners, only that they are numerous.
Yep; and if my username didn't give it away, guess where I am at local races? At all but the smallest and least competitive, I ain't at the front. In fact, the guy's post actually backs my observations rather than debunks them. Guess where the majority of runners are? In the middle to back of the pack, wearing Brooks and Hokas with me, not up front wearing Nikes.
Agreed! The only addition is there are TONS of Asics , as well
Another trend with LRS is that in order to stay relevant, many of them are increasingly trying to become premium boutiques. Selling brands like On is great for them because On sells through a lot fewer channels, which makes is special and exclusive. At least as of a few years ago, On was far and away the #1 brand in terms of the average sale price as percentage of MSRP. They hardly get discounted at all because there's nowhere else to get them, and they're selling to people who are not particularly price sensitive.
Fax wrote:
Why is it that Brooks and Hoka are the preferred brands of casuals?
I wouldn't give Nike a dime if my life depended on it. I'm certain there are many people who feel the same way.
I've tried lots of shoes over the years and my favorites just happen to be Hoka and Brooks.
You are pretty right on about the Hoka's. I bought the Carbon X 2 a couple of weeks ago (my first ever Hoka's) and freakin' love them. After almost 50 years as a runner, my feet don't hurt and my legs aren't nearly as trashed as they would normally be. I wish I hadn't waited so long to try the new super style shoes, I was missing out.