Big things come in small stores

For Run Parlour, building an engaged and active community plays a pivotal role in growing a dedicated customer base

Photo: Run Parlour opened its second location (the first is in Clinton) on Dundas Street in Old East Village in July

THE RUNNING STORE business, like just about every retail niche, has changed dramatically. Long gone are the days in which operators could simply throw up a wall of shoes and gear, open the door and watch sales start to roll in.

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These days, operating a running store is a multi-­disciplinary endeavour, involving event planning, weekly run clubs, boutique branding, content creation, experiences — and yes, shoes and gear, too.

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“You’re seeing the opposite of what we saw 15 to 20 years ago when big-box stores were taking over the run scene and shutting out all of the independent guys,” observes Pete Meades, co-owner of Run Parlour, a new independent running store that opened its second location on Dundas Street in Old East Village in July.

“You have these new places popping up that are super boutique. They cater to a specific audience, and they really represent the demographic that show up and support it in return.”

Run Parlour opened its first store in Clinton (about an hour’s drive north of London) last year, when Meades and business partner Heather MacEachern recognized a gap in the Huron County market. Meades and MacEachern (also a professional photographer) had worked together on a ­clothing line Meades had launched, and that exercise ­eventually snowballed into what became Run Parlour.

“We’d done a few pop-up shops, and really there was ­nothing serving the area from Owen Sound all the way down to Sarnia, and nothing inland until you hit London or K-W,” Meades says. “We were so connected with the community already, being avid runners, so that’s sort of how we got into it.”

Not long into the opening, Meades and MacEachern had landed a few big brands, starting with New Balance (their store still has a strong New Balance affiliation today). They were, as it were, off to the races.

From the outset, both Meades and MacEachern were ­cognizant that the success of the store depended on their ability to build a community of runners, and to be much more than just a brick-and-mortar shop. To that end, both locations feature a runners’ lounge with treadmills, saunas and recovery equipment, where runners can hang out before or after their weekly run clubs.

The first location in Clinton also found a market with the region’s older residents, many of whom were referred to Run Parlour by foot clinics in the area. When they opened their second location in Old East Village, it was something they took aim at replicating.

“We’re finding that here in London, we’re in the Old East Village, which is a similar business model because it’s an existing small village community,” MacEachern says. “You get that local business kind of feel. It’s a very tight-knit ­community in Old East.”

And then there are the run clubs. What has increasingly set independent running stores apart in recent years, as running has seen its popularity spike and numbers swell, has been operating weekly run clubs; for many stores, it is one of the primary ways to build a customer base.

“People can connect, they can see it online,” explains Meades. “After Covid, there was just such a huge boom, and you could see all these little run groups popping up. For us, rather than elite [runners], we are more community oriented.”

“Also building and supporting new runners,” MacEachern adds. “The focus is creating new runners and bringing them into the culture we’ve created. We’re seeing a big growth in the amount of people asking about our learn-to-run programs.”

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With two stores up and running, the partners say the focus for the time being is building up, not out. They are ­paying close attention to what the ever-evolving running community is looking for and fine-tuning the stores to deliver on those desires. “You have to see what the needs are of each community, and then build on those,” Meades says.

“People are coming in and actually thanking us that we’re here, which really underlines the fact that we’ve done ­something special here,” sums up MacEachern. “It’s not just a store — just as running is not just about running.” Kieran Delamont