Today I sold Shoes

It wasn’t a very active day…but I sold shoes, which was pretty great.

It was a day full of customers that do, well, stuff…that trust me and my advice,

Opened the doors at 10, and pretty much immediately had 4 customers…and all active, runners, and so so cool.

And female.

Now why is that a great thing?…….yes, we sell shoes to everyone, and every so often, well, things work out…but, well, this morning a case in point…

Four, they checked out shoes, they shared, they talked to each other, they tried on each other’s choices of shoes, they talked, I talked on of them into joining our Wednesday evening run club, she asked, and I gave her a ton of advice of running an upcoming half marathon…

Later, someone that had walked the Camino de Santiago, and is heading to Egypt in October, sold shoes to a nurse that seemed as interested in chatting as she was in buying shoes…….

That and a lot of coffee makes for a fantastic day, and why I do this stuff……

I don’t think we had a male customer….and yeah, guys are okay, but that vibe usually isn;t there…..they just want, they buy, usually it has to black, possibly a Nike…..and yeah…..not fun..or interesting…at least it’s not like that all the time…usually with guys, the more experienced they are, people I’ve run with…..people I know, there’s a common point….but well..

I like a store, our store when it’s busy and rocking..lots of people, not even necessarily customer…..yep, we are a dropping off point for people going for a run that just want to drop off their keys before they go for their run or even a walk…or some will just stop by for a chat, to fill up their water bottles of hydration pack……a great store is more social than all about selling stuff…that’ll happen…..

I always remember when I was a kid taking guitar lessons….the store I took them at was manned by a group of local musicians, and every so often, usually Saturday mornings, that store would rock with others popping in and just jamming,,,,,,sharing, making music…….a place like that felt inviting, special….you wanted to be there, even on days you didn’t want to shop or buy anything…..

A place that sells running shoes, and run stuff should be like that too……..a place to be even if you’re not going shop, just to hang out, and a place to start and finish a run.