Help A Running Store Owner Out!

Do you carry five fingers? Obv that is the way to go these days.

Arm warmers, compression socks, body glide, and foam rollers.

I'd love to shop for these in a local store.

I don't know if it's logistically possible, but I always thought it would be cool to put on some races and track clinics for kids. It wouldn't need to be intense. You could have cross country relay races, sprint races, mini road races. The New York Road Runners did something like it a little while back.

You could get the local high school cross country team to help out. Kids always need new shoes, too, so it could open up a little revenue stream for you.

Translation:

"I opened a store based on a dream.

I found out I have no idea how to operate a profitable business...."

HELP!!!!"

you know the deal - the best way to build a business is to provide long term good service. Hire people who know what they are talking about. Have a liberal return policy. Choose the right inventory and for god's sake don't be missing sizes. Teach politeness. Sounds like you are doing all the promotional things you can think of. At some point you have to just build return customers one at a time. (I know you know all this already - I was mostly just remembering my olde retail days)

Reaching Out To My Customers wrote:

I'm trying to find way to promote my store and get the community involved in running!

I am going to the extreme of reaching out to the creative minds of the LetsRun community.

If there is a product you wish a store would carry(that you would purchase), what is it?

What is a good idea for a social function? We already have items of the week, weekly runs, support local road races, promote the longevity of the sport. Support your elite's and hobby joggers. Have a ladies day.

Please feel free to attatch your input. You never know this could be your own local running store trying to help you.

P.S. Not a Troll attempt.

In this age especially, you have to compete on service.

donate a little something for the HS runners. A little goodwill goes a long way.

To the first question- We do not support the vibram craze. Like Ryan Hall said, the body was made to run barefoot, but it wasn't made to carry 225+ pounds and a beer belly.

We have Arm Warmers, Body Glide, no foam rolelrs though, just the stick.

We give discounts to the local high school programs and support them all quite well. We are starting to put on informative clinics. Someone already puts on mini-track meets but our appearance is always made.

To the troll- we are running the business just fine thank you.

-We have a well trained, small, but personable staff of elite runners that are dedicated to the goal and understand the importance of building a relationship with the customer.

-We have a very very liberal return policy

-We also are more interested in promoting welfare of the customer through the sport then actual accounting numbers.

-We are personalities, not salesmen/women, that care!!

Python wrote:

foam rollers.

I wish I knew about these before college. The Stick seems pretty much useless after using the foam roller for so long.

Maybe you could hold a few summer road races where winners in each age group get a pretty decent discount on any pair of running shoes (like 60-80% off or something like that) or apparel at your store and the winners/masters winners get a free pair of shoes or apparel of their choosing. Maybe different types of prizes for the others or a raffle type thing. Have the race start/end at your store if it's in a good location. Get creative with it.

Try the winner gets new shoes

Next?

This is how you do it. This is one of the top running stores in the nation. Follow the example.

http://www.fleetfeetsyracuse.com/

A hot alternative accessory to the stick that screams customer service: www.t-roller.com

Reaching Out To My Customers wrote:

-We have a well trained, small, but personable staff of elite runners that are dedicated to the goal and understand the importance of building a relationship with the customer.

How do you know? I mean, I am sure you love your employees, but how do you know your customers do? In my opinion this is the weak spot at most running stores and retail stores in general. Surly elite runners who treat novice, average, experienced and even other top runners or HS runners like they are idiots is common, although maybe not in front of the owner. The best running store service I know of is a family operation and they all act like their life depends on their service, because it does.

Aside from that, my recommendations:

1. Increase your sales the right way. Have your sales people reach out to customers about sales, specials and "to see how their training is going..." etc. Simple postcards with discounts can be quite effective. Offer incentives for sales people who succeed.

2. Add some non-running footwear and junk targeting HS kids, (eg backpacks). Depends on your trade area, but Eastbay catalog will give you and idea of what crap sells these days. You may need to re-do floor plan depending on your space, but sacrifice the low margin junk.

3. Offer free-coaching and advice. Do you have a treadmill in the store? Put the elite guys to work looking at form, giving simple training plans and making some follow up calls while they are not selling. When I was not flipping burgers at McDonald's 30 yrs ago, they had me "wiping and shining, wiping and shining." Figure out what the "wiping and shining" is for your business and eliminate the down time between sales.

4. Identify a trademark give-away with logos which people will use everywhere and get your store name out there. Cheap running gloves are a no-brainer in winter. Painters caps are due for a comeback I think. Headbands with your logo will do it. Don't skimp on building your brand, what's $2 for an order over $100 or even $50? Most shops are giving away bigger discounts anyways.

5. Back to service, you can always improve. Find out where people are coming from, where they are not coming from and why. Mail order is inevitably your biggest comp so you have to take them out and make it easy for your biggest customers to call you for orders or discounts.

I walk by the local running store everyday and they suck, it's amazing. Out of pure laziness I will walk in, buy 3 pairs of shoes and nobody cares. Last year at Marathon Sports in Cambridge I bought 2 pairs of shoes for myself and 2 Garmin 405's (1 was a gift) and the guy did not even say "thank you." Best of luck.

Employees are not a concern. They work hard in the store and they treat customers as equals. I have learned, cutomrers love telling you their stories. And you are there to listen and provide any opinions.

What is The right way to approach a customer on sales? One doesn't want to come off as pushy, but some things might be purchased much more but have bad positioning in the store.

This is a great marketing research tool!!

Fleet Feet Syracuse is a national chain, with more buying power (bigger margins, sometimes 10-15%). They have open access to all accounts with no "minimum" buys. If they have a line not moving, they can stock exchange or ship it off to another franchise. They also get national advertising in major publications and major events.

They also get actually sales reps to visit their store for clinics and promotions.

One thing my primary running store does that is darned popular (I avoid it because of the crowds) is its periodic (monthly or semi-monthly?) "foot clinics," with a podiatrist and tie-ins and advice on orthotics, gait, chiropractic, sports medicine, etc.

Get a feel for what models sell and work well, and stock up on the popular sizes. Try your best to be The Reliable Source for shoes.

A moderate-sized flat screen TV (showing ESPN or other sports programming such as Big Ten Network) and small kiddie play area were installed in another one of my metro's running stores, and it seems to work to provide a more inviting environment to the non-hardcore and those trying to decide on shoes with rugrats in tow.

Good luck! The world is a better place with good local running stores.

Big discounts for high school runners

I've been wondering about this recently as I live in a college town that has three good bike stores, a couple of decent outdoors places, but only one crappy New Balance Store located a ways from downtown/university campus. As many runners as there are--including a growing number of middle-aged folks--you'd think that a good running store with a strong community-outreach program would turn a decent amount of money.

The family/amateur-friendly ideas above are really good. Remember, there is a much larger market of hobbyjoggers than hard-core elites/subelites.

I was in Lance Armstrong's bike shop in Austin recently and was struck by the coffee bar and the mix of high-end and beginner's stuff. I'm a lousy cyclist but felt myself very drawn into the culture and all of that, even with surly/elitist help. Image helps.

Finally, what would it take to invest in locker rooms with showers? If you made lunchtime running/run commuting feasible, you'd do a lot in terms of building community.

Where are they buying their shoes now ? Sounds like somebody else is out selling you ? Dont use the big box as a excuse , every town has one. If your doing all you claim , your already there. Your over- thinking it.