HS project - how many running stores?

Search "Piano Tuners Fermi problem" and follow the logic.

I think there are 10,572 specialty running stores in the U.S.

I would think someone in the industry should have a reasonable estimate

I would guesstimate somewhere around 1,000??

78,876 according to google maps. (lower 48 only)

Five years ago it was about 700, divided among about 450 different owners, according to Liesure Trends as reported by the NY Times.

It's probably still pretty close to that.

While the running shoe business stood up well enough in the recession that companies like Merrell, North Face and Under Armour tried to get in the game, it wasn't necessarily the best time for new would-be owners to start up shops.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/business/smallbusiness/07sbiz.html

I have personally visited 4.

I think there area about 35 within a marathon of my house.

There is one in my town.

excoastranger wrote:

Five years ago it was about 700, divided among about 450 different owners, according to Liesure Trends as reported by the NY Times.

It's probably still pretty close to that.

While the running shoe business stood up well enough in the recession that companies like Merrell, North Face and Under Armour tried to get in the game, it wasn't necessarily the best time for new would-be owners to start up shops.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/business/smallbusiness/07sbiz.html

That article is specifically about running stores that are small businesses. The total number of running stores will be much larger because a lot of running stores are not small businesses.

About 880

WhyNotMap wrote:

http://geocommons.com/maps/110347

About 880

That doesn't include all of the running stores in the country. I can say this for sure because the store in my town isn't on the map. And it doesn't seem too likely that there are only one or two running stores in a number of states.

must be missing some wrote:

That doesn't include all of the running stores in the country. I can say this for sure because the store in my town isn't on the map. And it doesn't seem too likely that there are only one or two running stores in a number of states.

Many are mislabeled, too. Click on the one near Pocatello, ID, and it claims to be from Couer d'Alene. There's one near Columbus, GA that says it's Lawrenceville (which is 2 hours NE of there).