Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1244223
TIME OUT | JENNIFER ERNST BEAUDRY So what comes next? That's a question that I think has been on all of our minds lately. For this May Sports Edition issue of the magazine, we had planned a 360-degree look at the running business with all the normal elements: A fashion shoot with runners, a showcase of the products debuting for the fall season, and a deep dive into the innovative ways running shops were expanding their business and staking out new frontiers. And then, of course, everything changed. I can't say I've ever experienced anything quite like this spring. Almost two months into the COIVD-19 pandemic, the picture is just as murky as it was in late March: There's no road map as to how we proceed from here. More existentially, there's no sense yet of what a regular day will look like on the other side. All that seems clear is that we will have to create it — and it won't be the same. It was that idea that we kept coming back to us as we put together this new and yes, different-looking issue As we talked to 20 running shops across the U.S. to create a portrait of what the running world looks like today, what we heard again and again was how they were working to create a plan — one made and adjusted in real time, on the fly — to build the running industry of tomorrow. There are huge challenges. There are an immense number of unknowns. But what struck us was how much passion each store owner was bringing to the discussion of what came next, how much creativity and intellectual firepower and resourcefulness they were throwing at intractable issues. Another notable thing: How collaborative that effort has been. I don't think I talked to a single owner who didn't, over the course of our talk, bring up another owner or group of owners they had been strategizing and planning with. That spirit — that creative, inclusive, generous spirit — gives me a lot of hope. It's what is holding together an industry under incredible pressure — an industry that countless people are turning to to hold them together in rough times. And it's that spirit that I know will build the normal that comes next. Keeping On 4 • Footwear Insight | Sports Edition ~ May 2020 footwearinsight.com Published every Wednesday. Sign up for your complimentary subscription now! footwearinsightextra.com News, Analysis and Opinions • Footwear Insight Index FOOTWEAR INSIGHT EXTRA