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Lex Running Shop, in Lexington, VA, faced a "brutal winter," but warm weather has revived sales this spring with the benefit of new releases such as the Hoka Bondi 9. Said Jess Reid, co- owner, "A lot of my Bondi customers didn't love the 8 so the 9 has had just a lot of great energy around it." Also performing well have been updates to stability models: the Adrenaline from Brooks and the New Balance 860. e Nimbus and Novablast from Asics, a newer brand for Lex Running, are also doing well. Overall, demand continues to skew heavily toward high-cushioned models, Reid told us. In apparel, the recent introduction of Lululemon at Lex Running has gone well. Said Reid, "Everyone in our community was so excited to find out that we were carrying Lululemon since the nearest Lululemon store is an hour away." Another newer brand to the store outperforming is Oofos, even selling "in the dead of winter when it was freezing cold outside." Lex Running's continued battle is having the right inventory in the right quantities at the right time. Reid elaborated, "I think this year we've really gotten so much better about refining our revisions and we've come up with new strategies with our futuring. Instead of having the same future to at-once ratios across the board, we've come up with unique strategies for each brand that reflect the nuances and unique qualities of each brand. I think that's really helped us take a more varied approach to each one of those in terms of keeping each one at a healthier inventory level." Reid is upbeat about seeing growth for the year, noting that the industry has proven to be "incredibly resilient" during past downturns as a cost-effective way to exercise and reduce stress. She said, "It's almost like the worst things get, the more we run." Charm City Run, which operates six stores in Maryland and one in Delaware, faced a challenging holiday as chilly weather across the mid-Atlantic region hurt traffic. However, the conditions incentivized the retailer to reembrace its grassroots marketing roots, said Tom Mansfield, president and COO. He believes the boom years in 2021 and 2022 led many run specialty stores to focus on securing product and onboarding staff, ultimately causing Charm City Run to downplay the importance of community building over the last two years. "We kind of dragged our feet a little bit too long, but late '24 and especially early this year, we have been absolutely everywhere again," said Mansfield. "We're going to all the gyms, all the doctors' offices, all the local businesses…We are trying to put our face in front of people, and I think that has helped us weather the winter TAKING STOCK OF 2025 AT RUN SPECIALTY SHOP TALK 16 runstyle Spring 2025 runstylemag.com By Tom Ryan / While wintry weather led to a challenging holiday for run specialty shops, more sunshine and some strong footwear launches has resulted in an uptick in sales this spring. We checked in with running shops across the country. Here's what they told us about sales, strategies, brands, and more. Colin, Sloane and Jess at the Lex Running Shop.

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