About Us
The Running Room is an Alberta company, which originated in 1984 out of founder John Stanton's wish to purchase quality running shoes from someone knowledgeable about the sport. John, who began running in 1981, found the quality of service in large sporting goods stores was very poor and the staff - usually on a commission basis - were anxious to sell the most expensive rather than the most appropriate shoe to customers. This entrepreneurial Albertan decided to fill this niche in the marketplace by opening a small one room store in the renovated living room of an old house in Edmonton, hence the name, "Running Room." The concept was highly successful and has since expanded to over 90 locations across Canada and the United States of America.
The Running Room reputation has been built upon product innovation, quality and the knowledge of our sport. Through the input of our customers and the staff, our products have been tested and proven as products of choice. The Running Room's unique private label products have been developed to provide customers with the best in style, functionality, fabric innovations and reasonable price.
Service is an essential component of the company philosophy and is what keeps it competitive. All staff are considered Team Members and all are runners. Who else but a runner is knowledgeable about the needs of runners, as well as the products that cater to those needs? The Running Room philosophy is that if you're out there running on the same roads as the customers, you can relate to their exact needs. The Running Room is truly a store for runners by runners.
The Running Room also offers more than the best selection of top brand name running shoes and apparel. You will find an incredible number of services that offer clinics such as Walking, Learn to Run, Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K Training, Personal Best, and For Women Only Running Clinics. The tremendous success of these clinics is evident from the over 600,000 clinic graduates to date. The Running Room clinic program is committed to a lifestyle of fitness. The various programs meet the needs of those just getting into a fitness routine and to those contemplating a marathon. In addition, there is the Running Room Running Club, which has no membership fee and allows all levels of runners to run in a group setting twice weekly. The Running Room Running Club really adds a social component to running as you get an opportunity to run with a variety of people and receive some great coaching on running techniques and training methods.
In 2004 John announced the opening of the Walking Room. In announcing the opening of the Walking Room, John Stanton, said, “Opening the Walking Room expands upon our goal to be as inclusive as possible and bring the fitness message to a broader range of Canadians. He said his company wants to recognize fitness walking as a sport and as a lifestyle pursuit with tremendous health benefits. The Walking Room will provide the people with the finest running and walking products and services in the world, while providing an environment where people of all fitness levels, ages, shapes and sizes can feel comfortable to shop, meet and get motivational advice and expertise that will help them pursue an active lifestyle and gain improved wellness.” The new Running Room/Walking Room concept stores will place equal emphasis on providing service to runners and walkers. The company offers instructed clinics that bring people with similar goals and abilities together to walk, learn to run, or train for marathon events. The Running Room hosts free group runs and walks twice per week, open to anyone interested in walking or running. People can register or get information about running events and seek advice from staff knowledgeable in the sport. The Running Room organization sponsors and helps organize and promote more than 400 walks, runs and events that raise millions of dollars for local charities and non-profit organizations annually.
“We believe that the Running Room philosophy and our in-store environment are unlike any other retail business in North America. While we offer clothing, shoes, products and accessories for walkers and runners, we also help people to change their lives through fitness activities,” said Stanton. “Through the Running Room and Walking Room, people can gain a tremendous sense of belonging that comes from walking or running alongside people who share similar goals: improving wellness, while having fun and adventure exploring our cities on foot. The Running Room becomes very important to our customers, because their well-being is very important to us.” In Canada and the United States, the Canadian company is now North America’s largest chain of specialty stores for walkers and runners, our store numbers will continue to rise as we open more locations!
To visit our website, visit www.runningroom.com
