First Day Working at a Running Store, What to expect?

Fallen arches and gross toes

Hey ? hope the first day goes well!

Do you get a giant bone-r around hot girls feet?

Does this come in any other colors?

Day one start conservative. No political affiliations aka no letsrun gear.

Munich tights track pant. Commando.

Brand new racing flat out of the box.

Dry fit t shirt

Running visor, hair gel back.

Always masked.

When helping a customer take a knee and once on the knee always a deep inhale and a pleasant sigh/exhale.

When asking for their shoe preference always push the hot item.

Make sure they know your prs and racing experience (awards, all america, all conference, Natty qualifiers, OTQ, top 7 finishes, scholarships, and prs). This is important as you’re establishing a relationship with your customer and you’re always closing the sale.

Push a running sock, matching mask, and other over the counter item while ringing the sale. Always be closing.

Covid 19 should be high on your list of what to expect.

Your PRs and such will not offest your midget like height, your boys 16-18 suit size, and your spindly, arms with meager flaccid musculature unable to support multiple shoe boxes at once.

Running stores should hire sprinters and throwers if they want to hook the lady customers.

Expect a lot of hobby joggers - people who run 4-6 miles a few times a week, maybe 10-20 mpw and do yoga or something else.

You will probably have losds of MILFs come in.

Maybe I should get a job there too.

An overweight 75 year old woman with plantar fasciitis who will start off with, "Do you know anything about shoes? My doctor sent me here...".

You will spend 45-60 minutes listening to her whine about pain, how Macy's used to hire people that could fit shoes but it's just dumb people your age working there now, how expensive these "ugly" running shoes are, "Do you have anything in cream or white?", and will remind you every five minutes that she is entitled to a doctor referral discount. This will be 70% of your day working in a specialty running store. The rest of the time it's mostly hobby joggers, power walkers, stray high school athletes looking for replacement spikes, and showroom jerks (guys that ask for your expert opinions for an hour, try on at least six of the newest models, tell you, "I've got to think about these.", and then go home to order them from Runner's Warehouse or RoadRunnerSports.).

No horny MILFs. No former D1 studs that want to hang out and talk running all afternoon. No parade of reps giving you free stuff. No hotties from the local university.

Enjoy!

makingmoney wrote:

Any advice helps.

Whatever shoes someone asks for, you won't have it in the incredibly rare size of men's 8.0.

Or at least that has been my experience in 40+ years of going to running shoe stores.

On the one hand, I feel a little bad for store owners who probably have it tough making ends meet. On the other hand, as a consumer, after a few decades I was bound to stop trying. Which I did.

I'd guess that you will not deal with a lot of runners, but a lot of newbies or people looking for a certain style or color of shoe. They won't care or be impressed with your detailed knowledge of all things running.

EZ10Miler wrote:

I'd guess that you will not deal with a lot of runners, but a lot of newbies or people looking for a certain style or color of shoe. They won't care or be impressed with your detailed knowledge of all things running.

If they know what they want, then they bought it online and didn't come in to the store.

Any newbs will assume that you are an expert and they will take your shoe recommendation and only buy that shoe forever (as long as they keep jogging: 3 months - 2 years).

I would think that most people that come in will be older folks who want a comfy shoe for walking around.

Size8ness wrote:

makingmoney wrote:

Any advice helps.

Whatever shoes someone asks for, you won't have it in the incredibly rare size of men's 8.0.

Or at least that has been my experience in 40+ years of going to running shoe stores.

On the one hand, I feel a little bad for store owners who probably have it tough making ends meet. On the other hand, as a consumer, after a few decades I was bound to stop trying. Which I did.

Same. I've wasted enough time humoring the sorry, desperate hack who brought out the shoe in 1/2 size bigger than I'd asked for or the completely wrong model of shoe. This was all true pre-COVID supply chain disruption, it's got to be even worse now. It's rare to get better than Dick's Sporting Goods level service at a running store anymore, and with the likes of Amazon and RW killing their margins I can see why they can't pay for good help. Doesn't matter, as owner/manager you've got to hustle and inform and inspire your troops to win business. And you've got to be smart about strategically planning your purchasing so you're not out-of-stock in popular sizes of your best shoes. I've given up but there's always a new generation of customer willing to give LRS a chance.