Who knew going to a store with the sole purpose of buying running shoes could teach you a lot about…read moreyourself in less than an hour...
I went here on Wednesday November 22nd in the early afternoon. I entered the store, and I took a look around since it was my first time in there. I saw that some of their staff was already helping other customers, and after looking around for a few minutes, I decided to take a seat until someone offered to help a few minutes later. An employee then spoke into a mic/walkie talkie to indicate to someone in the back/side room that I needed help.
Afterwards, an employee came out and we got the show on the road. I told her I was interested in understanding what kind of feet I have and what would be the best shoe for me. Before we got started with the fun, I had to answer a few basic questions like how often do I plan on running, what kind of cushion, how much will I run in a week, etc;
So in order to find the right shoe, I needed to take my socks off and walk/run barefoot with socks provided by them on a treadmill while she filmed behind me with an iPad for 10-20 seconds. Once the employee got a good enough recording, then we headed over to the Fit Finder. For some reason the Fit Finder wasn't playing nice with her iPad, so we kind of stood around for a minute or two and then technology magically fixed itself. Afterwards I had to stand on it with both feet, stand on my feet in specific ways, put more weight on specific feet, etc;
Once we finished doing all of that, then we got to go to the big TV and understand my results! There is where I learned some interesting facts about myself! First it provided a couple shoe recommendations as well as other product recommendations. Now the nittygritty. The Fit Finder and treadmill fun was able to tell me how long my feet are, my feet width, my feet alignment, arch heights on each foot, and other not as useful facts like ball width, ball girth, instep height, and heel width. Here I learned how severely different my arch heights were in both feet. How one foot can be shorter than the other... Also how I have narrower feet on average than a typical guy... The list goes on, but it taught me a lot about my feet that you wouldn't know from just trying on shoes or just looking at your feet.
So based on all of that and how I walk/run, they were able to recommend stability shoes. However as we were talking about shoes then began the kind of subtle push for their custom support insole. Now I never necessarily said no or yes to it, but quickly as we were getting to the shoe trying on phase, she began heating up the insoles. We then did a standing act to form the insoles to my feet. Afterwards, she trimmed the insoles based on my feet/shoe size which in my head I kind of questioned since I never agreed to buying the custom insoles. However I just went along. We tried on a good few pairs, and I eventually settled on a pair in a color and size that wasn't available in store.
Based on their Black Friday deals, I was also logically convinced into getting their VIP rewards plan. It was at a price that would ultimately save me money, allow for me to return the custom insoles, get a discount on the shoes + insoles, and then also get a lot of in-store cashback.
I ultimately spent $236 on the shoes ($126), custom insoles ($90), and membership ($20). I saved $24 with the membership, and I received $63.20 in in-store cash. So to me that seems like a pretty good value, but maybe I spent more then I needed if I just bought the shoes. Regardless, I left the store with the custom insoles and the shoes to be delivered in a few days.
Their website didn't really play nice with linking the cashback to my account or linking my membership, but it eventually linked after a couple days. My in store Fit Finder results for whatever reason did not tie back to my account on the website, but they at least email you the results to reference for later. On another note, I was told that if I want to cancel my paid membership, I have to call them... So one of those days I attempted, and I sat on hold for like 30 minutes and gave up. I still need to... Lets hope I don't forget canceling by next year!
Ultimately I think it was a great experience. I learned a LOT about my feet, bought shoes, kind of got a deal, and kind of got upsold? Regardless, I still feel like it was overall a great experience, and it is a worth a trip to understand how your feet are.