Running Insight

"She was ready to move and I was, too," Carone- Rhodes says. "Plus, I thought, 'How hard could it be to have a little running company and do some race expos?'" She purchased the company and ran the business out of her Oregon home throughout the next year, handling product design and fulfilling website orders while also attending race expos, hosting pop-up parties and turning her garage – in the middle of Oregon farmland – into a makeshift retail shop. "It was hard work, but I loved every bit of it," Carone-Rhodes says. That's when the idea of opening a brick-and-mortar shop slowly crept in. A retail space, she figured, would allow her to extract operations from her home and also provide added visibility to attract some new customers. "The financial risk was real and I was concerned I would bankrupt my husband and I, but I also thought I was fortunate to be at a point where I could invest in the business," she says. "I even thought having a brick-and-mortar store could be fun." When a longtime women's clothing store in downtown Corvallis, OR, closed, Carone-Rhodes considered it fate tapping her on the shoulder and shooting her a wink. The 1,800-square foot space offered a near turnkey operation, requiring no extensive remodeling or buildout. "It seemed a perfect fit," says Carone-Rhodes, who held abackground in business, but no retail experience when she opened the doors to Running Princess Apparel in May 2016 near the campus of Oregon State University. A brick-and-mortar surprise Initially, Carone-Rhodes viewed Running Princess' various income streams – the website, race expos and the retail shop – as complementary, though distinct partners and she held only modest expectations for the Corvallis storefront that offered its own branded gear alongside fitness products from niche, female- owned businesses like Sweet Spot Skirts, Nuu-Muu and hipS-sister. Unlike the web, however, the physical storefront presented the spirited Carone-Rhodes a unique opportunity to directly engage customers. Her positive and outgoing personality – and those of some carefully vetted hires – served an undeniable asset as she built a community for women interested in looking good and feeling good. She began offering in-store yoga and strength training classes; unveiled walking and running groups; hosted fashion shows and wine tastings; and launched an ambassadors program that ignited word-of-mouth buzz. As many entrepreneurs do, she plugged along, grinding and hustling with an overstuffed to-do list. It wasn't until a local newspaper interviewed her earlier this year that Carone-Rhodes paused and came to an unexpected realization. "The retail store was actually the breadwinner and where the numbers were going up," she says. "[The Corvallis store] grew much faster than I ever anticipated and, honestly, it confused even me." This past June, Carone-Rhodes doubled down on retail with the opening of a second store in Bend, OR's tourist-oriented downtown about 120 miles east of Corvallis. Named Princess Athletic to attract a wider demographic, the Bend store mimics the boutique feel of the Corvallis unit with its upscale, 4 runninginsight.com © 2017 Formula4media LLC. A Royal Bet (continued) Inside the Princess Athletic store. UNLIKE THE WEB, THE PHYSICAL STOREFRONT PRESENTED CARONE-RHODES A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO DIRECTLY ENGAGE CUSTOMERS.

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