I've gotten Tennis Warehouse, Riding Warehouse boxes when ordering from them... no different than DBA such as Bed Bath, and Beyond, the parent company also has Buy Buy Baby, Harmon Face Values, etc, etc...
What Sports Warehouse should do is just print generic boxes that advertise their other businesses. They can save lots of money doing that.
If local running shoes stores want my business, they should start carrying neutral shoes and stop telling me I'm crazy when I say I don't want to buy a shoe with a gigantic padded heel.
manualf150 wrote:
They are an OK off shoot company.
Do they hurt local running shops? Yes and no.
My local running shops do not -- I repeat -- do not have a selection like Running Warehouse.
Especially in clothing, like "real" running shorts, tights, jackets, etc. I've walked into my local running shop, and they admire what I wear... asking me where I got it from. 95% of the time it's from RW.
However, it does draw some competition -- I bought some Brooks GTS19 from my local running store, and they wanted $15 more. I told them that I was just there to window shop, and I'm not paying $15 more plus tax when I can wait 2 days to get them from California. They dropped them down to less than what RW would have charged me by $5. They took a hit, but they know that I might come back. Might is the key word!
But again, they don't have anything in that store that I'm interested in. They don't even have any 1-3" running shorts ever in stock. Never any long or short guys tights (plenty of womens tights). Jackets are eh... but again, too high priced. Some have been sitting there for 3+ years, mostly because they are ugly styles that no one wants.
What people don't realize is Running Warehouse is not it's "own" business, it's a conglomerate of other "DBAs" like Tennis Warehouse, Ice Warehouse, Derby Warehouse, Riding Warehouse.... and a couple others.
So when people say Running Warehouse, it's really DBA Running Warehouse, which is actually owned by Sports Warehouse (parent company). They actually bought out Copelands Sports for $6 million back in 2008. The actual Sports Warehouse CEO and Co-owner is Mark Sczbecki. Their two main DBAs (most profitable) are Running Warehouse and Tennis Warehouse.
With giants like Amazon, for example, it can make the waters rough for Sports Warehouse. There are a lot of times when I'm comparing clothing and shoes, and find out that Amazon has the same thing for slightly cheaper with Prime shipping and free returns.
Though you do need to be careful that some items come directly from Amazon and not from a reseller. All in all, I've had a rather decent experience with Amazon.
I've noticed the same thing. Running stores have a pretty good selection of women's gear but a crap selection of men's gear. I guess women who shop at local stores are competitive and men are just exercisers, whatever. People say local running stores are struggling, but when they carry hobby jogger crap instead of real running gear, I can understand why. People say the hobby jogger crap sells much better, I don't know if thats the case, but hobby joggers buy running gear a couple times a year and runners go through a lot more. Who knows.
Wolf's Bane wrote:
I've noticed the same thing. Running stores have a pretty good selection of women's gear but a crap selection of men's gear. I guess women who shop at local stores are competitive and men are just exercisers, whatever. People say local running stores are struggling, but when they carry hobby jogger crap instead of real running gear, I can understand why. People say the hobby jogger crap sells much better, I don't know if thats the case, but hobby joggers buy running gear a couple times a year and runners go through a lot more. Who knows.
OTOH, just try to buy a pair of women's racing flats at a running store. No selection.
In general, it seems like brick and mortar running stores have very small selections of women's running shoes, especially if you prefer lighter shoes. Of course, they'll happily order something for me, but if I'm going to go to a running store to order shoes online, it just makes more sense to stay home in the first place.
moist wrote:
wejo wrote:
And we get a commission on every sale through our links so we'll start putting them more front and center.
Use this link below and support LRC if you're interested in buying from Running Warehouse:
http://www.runningwarehouse.com?from=letsrunAbsolutely will not use it.
+1
Though I do agree with Weldon and am a fan of Rubio's going way back, always enjoyed reading his posts here back when he visited this board.
I live in a town that may have the highest per capita LRS concentration in the US. We have 4 LRSes (and have not had fewer than 3 in my time here) for a population of roughly 100K. A couple have cycled in and out, due essentially to mismanagement. The newest one was opened by one of the previous owners of the oldest one and predictably is just a rehash of what he was doing previously, a '90s era model that's long outmoded. Everyone knows the big boy in town, the oldest one with great selection and where just about every runner of any stripe has experienced shoddy customer service. The other two comprise 1) another old school style shop, though it's fine at what it does, and 2) a newer style showroom model that seems to have good hustle in its management. Even with all this, I haven't bought shoes at any of these for years and years. RW is my favorite, though I'll also shop Holabird and Amazon. I know what I need in a shoe and don't want some half-informed running dork trying to put me in clunky stability shoes for a treadmill video session. If I were injury-prone and had biomechanical defects, I'd probably feel differently. My LRSes have a core demographic that excludes runners like me, and that's all good. If any of them had a program that matched price with RW and carried shoes I'd want, I'd reconsider. But at this point I've gone through the hassle with them enough, the customer experience is just lacking when compared to shopping via my phone. I don't know how much longer the local market will continue supporting this level of retail saturation nor who will be the first to go as Amazon & co. ramp up undercutting brick and mortar small timers. I side with those who say they'll deserve it for failing to innovate their customer experience.
MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:
I know a good number of people that will buy any non-shoe (ie shoes, socks) related product from their local running store and not RW....Wonder what the profit is for gels and body glide/lube for the local running store though.
Depends on which gels and what other products you carry, but most of the time accessories are only going to be 15 to 20 points for the LRS.
Having worked at a LRS for 4 years for my previous job, I can tell you that shoes (surprise, surprise) are the largest profit makers. Even a high price item like a Garmin watch is only getting 10 to 15 points.
If they are a platinum level for a company like Nike, they are getting 55 point margins plus another 2.5 if their bill is paid within the net 30/60 terms.
LRS can't keep on the lights if they're only selling accessories and nutrition.
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I just called Running Warehouse today to let a supervisor know how wonderful.one of the reps were to me! Great service, stock, and fast shipping both ways.
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