Run Collective has entered its next phase of growth. The upstart group of running retailers with a focus on driving the long-term prosperity of independent run speciality recently added seven new members. The additions push Run Collective’s retail roster to 19.
“It’s largely been baby steps to this point, but the time was right to take this next step in our growth and add these seven new members so we can continue to learn and strengthen our work,” says Run Collective executive director John Benedict, the former co-owner of Playmakers in Okemos, MI.
Years in the Making
Founded in 2022, Run Collective models itself after the Grassroots Outdoor Alliance (GOA), a retailer-owned network of 95 independent outdoor retailers and 67 vendor partners working together for the health and growth of specialty outdoor retail through data sharing, education, buying opportunities, community events, advocacy and more.
As a member of Playmakers’ leadership team, Benedict experienced GOA benefits firsthand and was interested in formulating something similar in run specialty. In conversations with other running retailers at vendor and industry gatherings such as The Running Event, Benedict found others similarly intrigued.
“Buying groups in many industries are often thought of as hammers, but I saw nothing like that with the Grassroots Outdoor Alliance,” he says. “Instead, I saw brands and retailers working together with passion to protect specialty retail.”
After more than a decade of talk, Benedict leveraged newfound time and freedom courtesy of his 2021 retirement from Playmakers to investigate a GOA-like organization in run specialty. He queried GOA leadership about what they learned over their 25 years in operation and began defining the parameters of a run specialty-oriented buying group alongside a few of the idea’s most ardent supporters.
In 2023, a dozen running retailers committed to join Run Collective. The founding 12 incorporated to legally act as a buying group, agreed to dues and tabbed Benedict as the founding executive director.
“When you get great retailers together, good things are going to happen,” Benedict says. “That’s what had us motivated to get this off the ground.”
Clear Objectives
Run Collective stands on three pillars: leveraging group buying power, sharing best practices to fuel retail performance and contributing to the overall progress of run specialty retail. While the buying group piece is rather straightforward, Run Collective has slowly solidified its efforts in the other two areas, leaning on a monthly ownership call as well as in-person meetings at The Running Event and RIA Summit to gather perspective, share direction and propel unified movement.
To drive the performance of members’ respective businesses, Run Collective has a Slack channel devoted to idea sharing as well as four retailer-led subgroups – buying, human resources, operations and marketing – to help its members tackle some of the heaviest challenges facing run specialty.
To be an agent of change in the larger run specialty retail marketplace, Run Collective has issued position papers – a September 2022 paper, for instance, addressed inequities, unfairness and confusion in one footwear vendor’s product resale and trade-in program – and members have assumed key roles in other industry groups. Benedict and Chris Lampen-Crowell of Michigan-based Gazelle Sports, for example, are active with the Running Industry Diversity Coalition, while Kathy Dalby of Pacers has helped amplify the female perspective in run specialty as a leader with empowerun.
“A foremost goal of ours is to make sure run specialty is progressing and focused on solutions and improvement,” Benedict says, careful to add that Run Collective is an ally of, not a competitor to, the nonprofit Running Industry Association (RIA). In fact, all members of Run Collective must be RIA members.
“We want a strong trade channel and strong independent retailers inside and outside of Run Collective,” Benedict assures.
Marching Ahead
While Run Collective launched two years ago with 12 members, thoughtful expansion was a target once the group worked out early kinks.
“But to grow, we first had to be in a position to add value for members and know how we could best do that,” Benedict says.
Jeff Metzdorff, co-owner of Mill City Running and Saint City Running in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, was aware of Run Collective’s founding and tracked its early evolution through conversations with some of the original 12 members. As the group’s operations and activities became more dialed in, Metzdorff welcomed the opportunity to join Run Collective’s first wave of expansion. He’s particularly eager to learn from the collective’s other 18 members about ways he can strengthen his 11-year-old business.
“As a small business, our biggest deficiencies are in the back at the house, so I’m excited to glean insights from the others and improve what we do because we want to be a great retailer and a great overall employer,” Metzdorff says.
Admittedly, Benedict says, growth brings both benefits (added buying power, a wider array of insights from the frontlines) as well as challenges (maintaining connections, creating a heightened level of sophistication and order). He reminds that Run Collective remains a young, fledgling entity “taking bumps and bruises” as it figures out how to best maximize its impact and pursue its future, including additional stages of growth.
“We’re still learning and growing as a group and building high levels of trust takes time,” he says. “Still, one thing is clear: We all want to be better retailers and we’re leaning into Run Collective to become that. No one is sitting on their hands saying we’re the best we can be right now.”
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Run Collective’s Founding 12
Athletic Annex (IN)
Big Peach Running Company (GA)
Charlotte Running Company (NC)
Charm City Run (MD)
Gazelle Sports (MI)
Naperville Running Company (IL)
Pacers Running (DC/VA)
Playmakers (MI)
Potomac River Running (VA)
Runners Roost (CO)
Salt Lake Running Company (UT)
Skinny Raven (AK)
Run Collective’s Seven New Members
1st Place Sports (FL)
Mill City Running (MN)
Philadelphia Runner (PA)
Point 2 Running (VA)
Red Coyote Running (OK)
Ridgefield Running Company (CT)
Sole Sports (AZ)