sportstyle

38 • May 2021 sportstyle • sportstylemag.com Forward Motion By Jennifer Ernst Beaudry A s summer approaches, running shops across the U.S. are feeling like things are rolling forward. After the stress, strain and ex- traordinary adaptability required of independent shops over the past year, running store owners are bringing the next era of their shops into view. And while the effects of the past year varied — sometimes widely — from area to area, state to state and even community to community, the resilience of the run channel as a whole, and the well-docu- mented influx of runners and walkers to the industry, has given shop owners new opportunities as they work on getting back to business. Here, four shops talk about their plans going forward. Embracing the New Landscape Running Wild Pensacola, FL and Fairhope, AL For Paul Epstein, owner of the two Running Wild stores in Pensacola, FL and nearby Fairhope, AL, 2021 is all about capitalizing on opportunities. Having celebrated the business' 20th anniversary during the pandemic (which is to say, the occasion wasn't marked at all), Epstein said he's excited to ring in Running Wild's 21st year with a doubled-in-size Fairhope location, renewed events business and making the e-commerce operation it launched during the pandemic more efficient. Business was significantly up last year and is trending up again this year, he said, with "pent-up demand" driving increases in transactions, sales and average ticket size. There's been pop- ulation growth in his Gulf Coast area, bringing new customers to the store as well, Epstein said. "We've probably seen a 15 percent increase in new customers — some of them are new to the area; many are just people that we've known for years," he said. "Since there hasn't been as much travel, people have more disposable income and are into health and fitness as much as ever. Running and being outdoors are more important to people, and frankly, there's some really cool choices in the footwear." Apparel has also been a strong per- former, and he's planning on devoting some of the additional floorspace in Fairhope to expanding the offering. "We had a great apparel year, with a positive trend in apparel growth and margin," he said, citing a shift to comfort and active lifestyle looks that was only accelerated by the number of people working from home. And apparel spe- cialists have been the brands benefiting. "For the core running brands, we're carrying their apparel, but we've scaled back," he said. "We've shifted to brands like Vuori, Glyder and Rabbit, which are much more resonant with the non-runner." While race numbers aren't yet match- ing what they were at their pre-pandemic peak, Epstein added, he estimates events like the April half marathon had 80 percent of their former numbers, with strong signups for training groups. "Our beginning training groups are much more social than technical while still feeding into our races, and I think those people are back. They're ready to get back into that social aspect of what running is," he said. And Epstein himself is looking forward to a certain social event himself. "We're going to do our belated 20 year celebration this August," he said. "We'll be celebrating 20 while we turn 21. I think we're going to go with the theme, 'Double Down.'" Embracing the Social Side Bozeman Running Co. Bozeman, MT Driven by an influx of new-to-the- area runners and outdoor enthusiasts, Bozeman Running Co. had a record year of sales in 2020 despite a six-week shutdown and curtailed event sched- ule. So when it comes to 2021, owner Casey Jermyn said he's excited about the possibilities of a more normal year — especially when it comes to events and race. "We're still in that flux with custom- ers," he said. "There's a lot of excitement, but we haven't gotten to the finish line yet." Jermyn said that product scarcity this year has driven him to book more key items earlier. "This year we're trying to work as far in advance as we can, and cleaning up the fringe items," he said. "We're making deeper buys on products that sell really well to lock it up rather than trying to spread things too thin." That's meant no new lines in the store, he said, apart from new shoes from The North Face. But looking into spring and summer, he said, it's the events opportunity that Customers are returning to events, training groups and races, according to Running Wild owner Paul Epstein. Buying deeper with key brands to avoid shortages is a strategy for 2021 at Bozeman Running Co. RUNNING SHOPS TALK STRATEGY • RETAIL

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