NORTHAMPTON — Traveling five or six blocks is no sweat to the average jogger, but for a business that has served runners here for more than a decade, that span could help it set a new pace.
After 11 years at 90 King St., Northampton Running Co. is moving to a larger, more prominent downtown location at 28 Pleasant St. The owner expects to open there June 1.
“It was a good location, but we want to be downtown,” owner Chris Dickerson, of Woodbridge, Connecticut, said about the store on King Street. “The new store will have a lot more space. We’re very happy in Northampton.”
Dickerson opened Northampton Running Co. in 2005, after opening his first store, Woodbridge Running Co. in that town 17 years ago. He also owns a third store in Brookfield, Connecticut, that opened six years ago.
The store sells running and track and field shoes, along with a wide range of men’s and women’s running apparel and accessories.
Its customer base runs the gamut from beginners to long-distance runners, and it also outfits high school and college teams with gear and apparel.
“A lot of people come in and they’re just walkers,” Jeff Hansen, the store’s manager said, moments after fitting a Greenfield woman with new pair of running shoes. “We’re really more about the fitness aspects of exercise. You don’t have to be a competitive racer.”
Dickerson, who is an assistant coach for women’s cross country and track and field teams at Quinnipiac College in Hampden, Connectict, said he opened his Northampton store after recognizing a need. Other running gear outlets that operated in the city years earlier had closed their doors.
“It was a great running area that didn’t have a running store,” he said. “We opened up to fill that void.”
Dickerson said the new 1,500-square foot space on Pleasant Street (just a few storefronts down from Florence Savings Bank) will allow the business to expand its inventory and provide more products, including cross country and track and field gear. The King Street location is in a 1,000-square-foot store with limited space for inventory and its show room.
“It’s a little bigger, a little brighter, hopefully more exposure,” said the 46-year-old Hansen, who has been a runner since he was 10 years old.
Hansen has worked at Northampton Running Co. for the past six years during which time business has always been good, he said. He noted an uptick in sales in recent months, which he attributes, in part, to a very mild winter as well as increasing interest in long-distance running.
“I think even the Boston Marathon bombings have raised awareness of long-distance running,” he said.
In addition to running the store, Hansen also gives informal educational talks in the area to youth athletes and parents about running shoes and spikes. Northampton Running Co. provides 10 percent discounts to student-athletes, members of the Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club and area podiatrists as part of a referral program.
Once relocated, Hansen and Dickerson said they hope to provide a more interactive, community-oriented space on Pleasant Street, even organizing so me runs, for example.
Dickerson said the store also plans to continue its tradition of allowing customers to bring in their old team or school running shirts to pin up on the walls. The current store features a colorful array of runners’ shirts – from local high schools, colleges and university teams to international competition.
“People like to bring them in and put their school on display,” Dickerson said. “It adds to the place.”
Staff Writer Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.