Desire to start a running store and need some ground truth

we have a minimalist shoe store in the area (N. Metro Atlanta) Dude seems to do quite well with Altra, NB, Newton & a half dozen other minimalist brands. Maybe picking a niche - especially a growing one - would work better than going head to head with the big boys.

I own a small independent insurance agency and I've learned the hard way that it's a bitch to compete vs. State Farm, GEICO, Allstate, etc. & their $600M annual ad budets.. More profitable to specialize in a niche..

How bout this niche: secure and comfortable dressing rooms where hot female employees and customers can bang the owner of the store.

Charlie E wrote:

I live in a very active community with roughly 150,000 residents. There is only one Foot Locker in the area and a small sporting good store with limited selection.

The biggest races have 5000 runners and most of the small races still get 250-500 turnout.

What are the most visible concerns a seasoned store owner would have before jumping into this market?

How challenging is it to develop supplier for both running apparel and shoes?

Thanks in advance for the comments.

From the answers it looks like a tough business.

Why do you want to open a running store ?

Maybe consider a different way to meet this ambition.

what is "ground truth"?

Precious Roy wrote:

The major shoe/apparel companies do not want their products in small mom and pop stores. They want their products in the big stores with multiple locations in big cities. They will not give you any product and will make you price at list for what you can get.

True.

The owner of my local shop, which is by far the most knowledgeable place in my (large) city, told me that working with Nike and Adidas is nearly impossible logistically, and completely non-profitable. At one point he stocked them, but only to get people in the door. Literally they didn't make a dime on those products. Dealing with with the corporations' demands, just to pay shelf-price for their shoes, became pointless and he does fine with real runners even without stocking these brands.

The time to open a running shop was in the mid- to late-1990s before the ecommerce boom took off. Reps were much more willing to work with the small guys, and if you established yourself during that time period, odds are you're in good shape nowadays.

Back then it was rare for running footwear manufacturers to sell their lines through anyone but running specialty stores. In my town of 100,000 people, you couldn't buy the Asics GT-2000 series anywhere but the local running shop. (This changed in about 2000 when a Dick's opened and the Finish Line at the mall started stocking Asics.)

If you were a high school cross country athlete, you either bought your spikes at the local running shop or you called up Eastbay. That was it.

Today if I want to buy a pair of Pegasus, I can 1) go to the local running shop, 2) buy it from two big box stores or three shops at the mall, 3) order it from dozens of stores online. The local running shop is no longer special.

This may be true generally, but not always specifically. I live in manhattan and the last 5 years has seen a bubbling up of several new running only stores. It used to be just super runners and urban athletics, now there is NY Running Co, Jackrabbit, run (foot locker), asics concept store, and probably several others I don't even know about.

point is, the current running boom and dense population has let stores thrive in manhattan anyway.

Then why are Running Specialty shops sales at an all time high? The business is great if you understand it.

More people are buying their shoes through other avenues. But there are more people running. It is much like the fact that Major Marathons sell out in a few days (this never happened a decade ago) But the fields have no depth. 100th place in Boston this year would not have finished in the top 1000 20 years ago but yet there are more participants.

Just because YOU are not using the local running shop does not mean that others feel the same way. BUSINESS IS UP.

As an aside, there is a very specific reason why the 100th place at Boston was kind of slow this last year.

the ultimate hypocrit wrote:

Then why are Running Specialty shops sales at an all time high? The business is great if you understand it.

More people are buying their shoes through other avenues. But there are more people running. It is much like the fact that Major Marathons sell out in a few days (this never happened a decade ago) But the fields have no depth. 100th place in Boston this year would not have finished in the top 1000 20 years ago but yet there are more participants.

Just because YOU are not using the local running shop does not mean that others feel the same way. BUSINESS IS UP.

Even 2011 with the monster tailwind 100th place would not have finished in the top 1000 in the early 80's.

So please don't be so ignorant to act like last years heat was the difference.

Spencer T wrote:

As long as you open with Brooks, Asics, Saucony and Mizuno you will be just fine.

It's very hard to get these companies as suppliers now. A buddy and I just tried to open a running store back in September. We had money backing, so that wasn't the problem.

We were unable to get shoes from Nike, Brooks, Asics, Saucony, and Mizuno even though we only have three other running specialty stores in our 1.2 million metro area. Nike and Mizuno said they weren't working with startups... the implication being that we could check back in with them in a year or so. Brooks said no, period. Asics said they weren't opening any new locations while working out some internal issues. Saucony said something about new marketing directions and then fired our regional Saucony rep!

It's going to be tough to succeed if you can't carry some name brand running shoes.

Who's to say you can't screw the suppliers if they won't work with you?

Head online or to Dick's and buy the Brooks, Nike, etc. shoes and apparel you need. Maybe you can get a bargain, maybe you can't. The point isn't selling for profit to start, it's about pissing off the reps.

Once you have a good stock and are doing decent sales, invite the local rep to your store, just for a visit. When they see you selling there product and neither them or the supplier are getting a piece of the pie, they'll be right pissed. Keep selling and soon enough they'll want a piece of your action.

This guy did it with motorcycle parts:

http://mixergy.com/brad-smith-braaap-interview/

Get creative wrote:

Who's to say you can't screw the suppliers if they won't work with you?

Head online or to Dick's and buy the Brooks, Nike, etc. shoes and apparel you need. Maybe you can get a bargain, maybe you can't. The point isn't selling for profit to start, it's about pissing off the reps.

Once you have a good stock and are doing decent sales, invite the local rep to your store, just for a visit. When they see you selling there product and neither them or the supplier are getting a piece of the pie, they'll be right pissed. Keep selling and soon enough they'll want a piece of your action.

This guy did it with motorcycle parts:

http://mixergy.com/brad-smith-braaap-interview/

You don't understand the mindset of manufacturers. In my metro area, they are selling at 3 running specialty stores, two Dicks, one Academy Sports, and 6 shoe stores in the three area malls. That's 11 sales locations. The hassle and cost of opening a 12th location in our metro area does not increase their profits. In their view, it dilutes their profits at the other 11 locations. They do not need your business. This is the problem that independent running stores are having right now. These manufacturers would not sell to us in spite of a solid business plan and financial backing.

You, as a small start up running store, need to provide your customers a variety of name brand running shoes. The top 3-4 brands account for about 70% of running specialty store sales. If you can't stock those 4 brands, you've lost 70% of your potential shoe sales.

I'm not saying that this obstacle can't be overcome, but it greatly increases startup business risk.

wait, davila is starting a running store?

Get creative wrote:

Who's to say you can't screw the suppliers if they won't work with you?

Head online or to Dick's and buy the Brooks, Nike, etc. shoes and apparel you need. Maybe you can get a bargain, maybe you can't. The point isn't selling for profit to start, it's about pissing off the reps.

Once you have a good stock and are doing decent sales, invite the local rep to your store, just for a visit. When they see you selling there product and neither them or the supplier are getting a piece of the pie, they'll be right pissed. Keep selling and soon enough they'll want a piece of your action.

This guy did it with motorcycle parts:

http://mixergy.com/brad-smith-braaap-interview/

I don't know the legal ramifications of selling brand names that you do not have contracts to carry in your store, but if I was a sales rep and I found you carrying my product in your store without my company's permission, you would NEVER sell a pair of my running shoes or running apparel EVER. You would probably get sued by every company you pulled that stunt on.

OP, don't worry about the vendors, worry about putting hidden cameras in the dressing rooms so you can check out hot chicks getting undressed!

You are gonna love this business!

If you can somehow make your perceived running store into many things at once you can maybe pull it off. You can run the normal store up front and in the back run an online retailing business as well offer coaching services via email, etc.

Keep in mind: How long would the retail space lease be for? Do you have the overhead money set aside for the first year? Are you borrowing the money? Are you willing to loose it all and start something new and/or move on if it doesn't work?

nycer 8 wrote:

This may be true generally, but not always specifically. I live in manhattan and the last 5 years has seen a bubbling up of several new running only stores. It used to be just super runners and urban athletics, now there is NY Running Co, Jackrabbit, run (foot locker), asics concept store, and probably several others I don't even know about.

point is, the current running boom and dense population has let stores thrive in manhattan anyway.

The difference here is that big boxers are opening up concept stores that look and feel like local stores. NY Running Co. is a chain of the Running Co's, Run is Footlocker, and Asics is well, asics. Jackrabbit is a local store, but has been around for a long time. They just opened up stores in Manhattan after being in brooklyn. So none of these stores are within the last5 years, and majority are really just big box chain stores. even super runners is only super runners in name. They were bought out a year or so ago by a company that has sports stores all over the world.

You should open a barefoot running store, then you need no suppliers.