Business of Sports: Small sports retail holds on at Flying Feet

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Today, anything is available at consumers’ fingertips via the Internet, and big-box retailers dominate many aspects of sports equipment retailing.

But Baum is still in business.

The days might be numbered for independent retailers, he admits, but hopefully it will turn around. His niche keeps him going where others have not been so lucky because runners seek out the right fit and the right advice, Baum said.

Customer loyalty is the key to his success, and the store at 1511 Mount Rose Ave. in Spring Garden Township spends most of its advertising budget on sponsoring and providing products for events around the area, he said.

“There are a million places you can buy these shoes. Sometimes you can buy them cheaper at other places,” Baum said. “But they come to us because we support them.”

Q: How did you get into the business of running a sport shoes store?

A: I was the cross-country coach at the York County School of Technology and took over a fledging program there that never won a meet. I had a great bunch of kids and — this was 1975 — I wanted to make sure my kids had proper running shoes.

So I went to a local sporting goods store that we did business with and I said (that) I’m going to be ordering New Balance shoes for my team. Nobody around here carried New Balance shoes, and I wanted to give (the store) a heads up. But they weren’t interested.

So I called New Balance myself. I said “I want to purchase shoes; I’m going to start a running shoe store.” They came, sat in my living room, and I bought the first quantity — I don’t know if I had to buy 50 or 100 pair of shoes at the time to open my account with New Balance — and they were happy to open it with me because there was nobody selling their shoes.

I, in turn, sold a few pairs to my school team and thought, “What the heck am I going to do with the rest of these?” I would go to races, road races and so forth in the area … and I’d throw the shoes in the back of the car when we’d go.

I started selling to some of my colleagues in the running arena, and then they got picky and said, “Can you get Brooks?” Well (I said) “I don’t know; I’ll see if I can.” Pretty soon I had a $35,000 inventory of shoes in my spare bedroom. It just kind of grew from there.

How has the business changed since you opened?

Back then, the companies were smaller. There were a lot of small companies, niche running companies, and everybody wanted to be your friend. Every vendor wanted to be your friend because they needed you. Companies like Nike couldn’t get their foot in the door anywhere else. And they were your best buddy.

Today, the same companies are doing the same thing to pass you over because they want to sell direct to the consumer, or they want to sell only to the national chains.

So how are you still in business here as an independent retailer?

Some days I wonder that myself. We still have a core of companies who are very much grass-root, friendly to the running shoe industry and very supportive of stores like myself — independents and bigger — but they don’t make their living on the big boxes.

In running specialty, the top three brands right now are Brooks, Asics and Saucony, not necessarily in that order. But those are the top three. They aren’t perceived at this point as being fashion shoes, and the average consumer doesn’t even know all three of those companies. They know Nike, Adidas and Reebok.

So you have a niche base of runners who know what they are looking for, and that’s how you stay in business?

Over the years, I’ve been blessed to have a good staff that is knowledgeable in sport, (people) who truly care about putting the customer in the right product. So coaches over the years have sent their kids to us. Runners have come to us with their questions. We get a lot of doctor referrals. People have injuries, and doctors send them to us because we have some knowledge, and we have enough concern to get them in the right shoe with the right fit. We still wait on the customer, and that kind of service you don’t get elsewhere.

Do you think there is anything about runners in particular, that subculture, that lends itself to your form of service?

Runners for the most part, if they find a shoe that they like, they come back for that same shoe. And you say to them, “I only have it in purple.” It doesn’t matter. They want what works. And that’s another reason why companies like Brooks and Asics and Saucony, among others, have been so successful. They don’t reinvent the wheel every season. (Runners) want consistency.

So I think the runners have come to us because they know we’re going to have the right product, and we’re going to try to get them in the right product. We’re going to help them out, and we’re going to stand behind it.

Despite the fact that we are a specialty store and we offer these services, we don’t gouge them on the prices. The specialty store industry is thought of as being high price, and for the most part it is. But I’m a cheap Pennsylvania Dutchman as much as anybody else, and I resist the high prices as much as anybody else.

What is the mass appeal for the number of people who are interested in running today?

I think running is a great social sport. You can train with people, and you can have a conversation with them while you’re out on a long run. You can share experiences with them.

You don’t have to have a lot of fancy equipment, you don’t have to have a venue that you pay a membership to, and you can do it on your own time, on your own schedule and in your own location — and with your friends. It is a very social sport — a social activity, I should say.

Do you feel like you’re one of the last holdouts in that you’re here as an independent running store, but the independent hardware store that was in your niche 30 years ago might not be there?

Oh, I do. I feel like we are a bit of a dinosaur, and I’m proud of that. I mean, right here you see (a store employee) putting these shoes on this gentleman. How many shoe stores do you go to that anybody puts the shoes on (the customer)? That measures your feet and puts the shoes on you? Not many.

I think something else is kind of unique to us. If you come in here and you tell us what you want and it’s not the right thing, we’re going to tell you that it’s not. We’re not going to sell it to you. That is part of the service. You come to us for advice and service as well as the product.