The fire is gone.
I remembered The Run In as one of those iconic holes in the wall that all the elite runners knew about and flocked to. Back when I ran marathon I would buy my shoes from nowhere else. That was 25 years ago. Today I took my daughter there for an early Christmas present. That was a mistake. We arrived at 11am and sat waiting until John opened his door a half hour late. As a courtesy we gave him a few minutes to settle before walking in and were greeted with almost a scowl, made to feel like we were an inconvenience. He had my daughter take off her shoes, asked her size and without another word produced a couple models for her to try and walked away. Trying to make small talk with the man to hopefully engage him a little, as a retail shop owner should be, was next to impossible.
Top this all off with door handles that haven't been washed in at least 25 years. The inside in disrepair, smelling like a men's locker room with half empty shelves and what was there strewn about like a bachelor's pad. Positively the worst retail experience I've had in a very long time, perhaps ever. My advice to John is sell the place while he still has a shred of brand equity left in the name and call it a day. He clearly didn't want to be there and this was clearly not the place I remembered.
My daughter and I walked away feeling very sad for John, very upset with the whole experience, and bought elsewhere.
P.S. I tried to post this review at Superpages and was censored. Any 5 star rating seen there for The Run In is completely manufactured. Don't believe it. read more