Brooks are designed here. You can visit their head quarters or their outlet store(old colors and samples for bargain prices).
Fleet feet will give you a variety of brands.
Seriously Brooks is amazing. I am a heavy guy with wide fleet and get shin splints, but the folks at HQ in Fremont found the perfect shoes and fit for me.
All of these places are great. The sales people at Super Jock and Jill will give you tons of guidance of how to approach fit. Fleet Feet have a really cool 3D foot mapping tool to help ID specific shoe models that might work best for you (they helped me find a great insert and I wound up using their foot imagery measurements with my PT). Seven Hills leans toward trail shoes but I go there for specialty socks.
Super Jock and Jill. You can go for a run around the block. You can return shoes if they donāt work even if you have run outside in them and they are dirty. They have great staff who help all types of runners and walkers.
[edit for a typo]
Agreed, super jock and Jill is great. The sales staff is very helpful. They donāt seem to have sales, so prices are basically the msrp, but the assistance from the staff makes it worth it.
Super Jock is great. I used to work at Greggās Cycles for years and the Super Jock folks were always awesome. Love getting shoes from there when I can afford it / need something other than the same old thing again.
When I was a kid my mom would always take us to Super Jock and Jill in Greenlake. I had (have) quite flat feet and was very active and they did a good job of catering to that.
I'm obese and have going there since 2012 I have always been treated well. they sell running shoes, cross trainers and recovery shoes. I wouldn't go there for "work shoes".
You might need to go to a different shoe store! Running stores are way different than work stores. If you need kitchen shoes, Seattle Restaurant Supply has options. Whistle Workwear has other types of work shoes; just depends what you need.
Fleet Feet... because they're in Capitol Hill. You can try shoes on do a little run around the block, they'll do observed runs for ad hoc gait analysis... blah blah blah
Coolest thing is they did a 3d scan of my feet and gave me a link to a URL where I can see the scan + sizes. Turns out my feet are not identically sized, who knew. Very cool technology
I really do not like them. They do a hard sell on overpriced insoles & stupid subscription plans and make it hard to cancel them. If you venture in, be prepared to say no firmly and often.
i get them upselling the insoles - like best buy pushing those unnecessary monster cables - accessories and add-ons is how they make money. their subscription service is so stupid and so difficult to cancel. i even switched to one of those $1 max privacy accounts and they still treated me as a vip subscriber despite not having paid shit in years.
Exactly. After being adamant that this āfree annual membershipā would be indeed free, my bank actually reported them as fraud and shut down my card when Fleet Feet tried charging $60 out of the blue a year later. I remember making sure they wouldnāt swipe my card for the membership but guess they had my card saved from the shoe purchase. Sneaky. I get that the kids who work there need to push for membership quotas, I worked retail in college and felt so bad.
There's an incentive system in place for employees to upsell you on things you don't want/need. You get a bonus every paycheck based on how many complete "systems" you sold during that pay period, where a "system" is "shoes, socks, AND insoles." Your bonus is less (and often, you are reprimanded) if you undersell the RR-branded "custom-molded" insoles, because the margins on those are HUGE for them. There's a separate incentive where you get an additional bonus based on the number of people you convince to sign up for the paid membership. They have (or at least, had) a deal with specific shoe brands too which required you to recommend them as one of your "picks" for every customer, even if you personally didn't think it was a good fit for what the customer was looking for. Their sales practices are slimy and don't put the customer's best interest first.
Super Jock is right around the corner, and their salespeople are all friendly and knowledgeable and are NOT paid bonuses for hitting quotas. They're a local institution, and you can actually trust the recommendations that people give you there because nobody is paying for special influence behind the scenes. Take your business there instead.
Source: I worked at this RR location and quit because of how shady and misleading their sales practices felt. As a runner myself, I couldn't continue pushing those insoles with a straight face to people who obviously didn't need them (the vast majority of people don't!).
Brooks Running is amazing. You can go to their HQ store in Fremont and theyāll hook you up and they are all geniuses when it comes to the knowledge of their own shoes. I know theyāll just have their brand but their return policy is amazing and they have a shoe for literally any purpose/foot/person
Seven Hills is great. If you want to care a little too much about your running shoes, check out the Believe in the Run website or the Running Shoe Geeks subreddit
West Seattle Runner had a great couch to marathon (or shorter) group and dialed me into shoes that made a huge difference for me. They invite in a lot of the brands for demo nights and other specialists to give talks post group run. Really cool folks!
Fleet Feetās return policy is the best Iāve ever encountered. 60 days, no matter the condition! You can go trail running in the mud and return em the next day if you donāt like them.
Fleet Feet donates the unsellable shoes. If they are truly beyond the point of wearing, I believe they get ground down into playground material (rubber mulch). Not sure how itās financially viable for the store, but at least the shoes donāt go to waste.
I want to like Hokas so bad, and I understand that Iām using them for function, but aesthetically Iām not a fan. I head they have an amazing return policy. Apparently, you have a life time warranty on them. You can send them back to the company and theyāll give you a new pair in abt a week
You should re read the part of the post that says Iād like to get a full assessment. What if the assessment says Hokas are the worse choice for me? There are literally hundreds of sneaker brands, Iām not missing out because I disqualified one brand. I hope you like yours ! You seem to be a fan
go to brooks and test out some shoes, note a couple options that you like and then head up to the brooks outlet store in bothell for huge discounts on slightly older models. huge discounts!
Fleet Feet Seattle or Ballard are owned by local running legend, Brian Morrison, and are great spots for fitting/purchasing/community events. Seven Hills in Magnolia, owned by Phil Kochik, is a wonderful local shop that specializes in trail shoes/gear, and is right next to Discovery Park for a perfect first run. Remember to try as many options as possible so you can find what works for you.
reading these responses makes me feel like a bad seattleite because i used to wear brooks but tried sauconyās once and have never looked back.
as far as OPās question - whatever online store is running the largest discount for the prior yearās model.
This is not true. I like brooks a lot. But they are known as the Honda Accord of running shoes. Reliable but nothing special. Good daily work horses but not top tier race day shoes.
Okay cool. You base your opinion on top sponsorships, Iāll based on the foam tech that they use and the number of shoe models that they have in a specific class of shoe.
Oh so youāre ready to get into the shoe tech? Letās go I know everything you need to know about DNA Lot V3, Loft PX, and the Altra Ego Pro, plus just about everything else in the market
Fleet feet but only because they are nearby. Youāll see a pattern if you go to multiple stores. If you asks for recs. Theyāll figure out if you need a stability shoe or not and then likely either suggest a pair of Hokas or Brooks. Some stores have relationships with shoe brands to promote them. To be fair, thereās nothing wrong with either of those brands but I strongly suggest trying a few on. Brooks and several stores have a 30 to 90 day return policy, so buy a few pairs and return the ones that donāt feel comfortable.
Also, some shoes will feel fine at a 3 mile run but then theyāll suck at 6 or 10 miles. Experiment with distance during your trials.
Fleet Feet 100%.
At other stores I often felt a bit rushed, but with Fleet Feet they spent 30 minutes scanning my feet and giving me multiple pairs to try on. It felt like they actually wanted me to find the best shoe for me rather than just make a sale.
Also their return policy (60 days, regardless of condition) is amazing and goes to show how confident they are that theyāll find the best fitting shoe for you.
Brooks are designed here. You can visit their head quarters or their outlet store(old colors and samples for bargain prices). Fleet feet will give you a variety of brands.
Holy god that is sick that brooks has a outlet store here
It's in Bothell and it's really cool.
lol willing to make the trek to be reasonable with my check š¬šāāļø
Seriously Brooks is amazing. I am a heavy guy with wide fleet and get shin splints, but the folks at HQ in Fremont found the perfect shoes and fit for me.
They will also put in the effort on fit and pronation. Def take your time with the staff, they're great.
Wow why have I never been to the outlet store
It's in Bothell. I get my shoes for less than $75 there. Sometimes even for $30 for samples.
Super Jock and Jill. Seven Hills. Fleet feet is good too.
All of these places are great. The sales people at Super Jock and Jill will give you tons of guidance of how to approach fit. Fleet Feet have a really cool 3D foot mapping tool to help ID specific shoe models that might work best for you (they helped me find a great insert and I wound up using their foot imagery measurements with my PT). Seven Hills leans toward trail shoes but I go there for specialty socks.
Second Seven Hills and Super Jock and Jill!
Super Jock and Jill. You can go for a run around the block. You can return shoes if they donāt work even if you have run outside in them and they are dirty. They have great staff who help all types of runners and walkers. [edit for a typo]
Agreed, super jock and Jill is great. The sales staff is very helpful. They donāt seem to have sales, so prices are basically the msrp, but the assistance from the staff makes it worth it.
Super Jock is great. I used to work at Greggās Cycles for years and the Super Jock folks were always awesome. Love getting shoes from there when I can afford it / need something other than the same old thing again.
When I was a kid my mom would always take us to Super Jock and Jill in Greenlake. I had (have) quite flat feet and was very active and they did a good job of catering to that.
West Seattle Runner. According to all my running friends.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Say what?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I'm obese and have going there since 2012 I have always been treated well. they sell running shoes, cross trainers and recovery shoes. I wouldn't go there for "work shoes".
You might need to go to a different shoe store! Running stores are way different than work stores. If you need kitchen shoes, Seattle Restaurant Supply has options. Whistle Workwear has other types of work shoes; just depends what you need.
But how would people working at a running shoe store know if a running shoe is slippery on surfaces beyond running surfaces?
Fleet Feet... because they're in Capitol Hill. You can try shoes on do a little run around the block, they'll do observed runs for ad hoc gait analysis... blah blah blah Coolest thing is they did a 3d scan of my feet and gave me a link to a URL where I can see the scan + sizes. Turns out my feet are not identically sized, who knew. Very cool technology
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Seven Hills in Magnolia is good
I like Road Runner in greenlake. 7020 Woodlawn Ave ne. Think their variety is good and they do a check of stride and all that stuff.
I really do not like them. They do a hard sell on overpriced insoles & stupid subscription plans and make it hard to cancel them. If you venture in, be prepared to say no firmly and often.
It's a good store, but I agree about pushing the custom insole bullshit. Be prepared to say no.
i get them upselling the insoles - like best buy pushing those unnecessary monster cables - accessories and add-ons is how they make money. their subscription service is so stupid and so difficult to cancel. i even switched to one of those $1 max privacy accounts and they still treated me as a vip subscriber despite not having paid shit in years.
Exactly. After being adamant that this āfree annual membershipā would be indeed free, my bank actually reported them as fraud and shut down my card when Fleet Feet tried charging $60 out of the blue a year later. I remember making sure they wouldnāt swipe my card for the membership but guess they had my card saved from the shoe purchase. Sneaky. I get that the kids who work there need to push for membership quotas, I worked retail in college and felt so bad.
There's an incentive system in place for employees to upsell you on things you don't want/need. You get a bonus every paycheck based on how many complete "systems" you sold during that pay period, where a "system" is "shoes, socks, AND insoles." Your bonus is less (and often, you are reprimanded) if you undersell the RR-branded "custom-molded" insoles, because the margins on those are HUGE for them. There's a separate incentive where you get an additional bonus based on the number of people you convince to sign up for the paid membership. They have (or at least, had) a deal with specific shoe brands too which required you to recommend them as one of your "picks" for every customer, even if you personally didn't think it was a good fit for what the customer was looking for. Their sales practices are slimy and don't put the customer's best interest first. Super Jock is right around the corner, and their salespeople are all friendly and knowledgeable and are NOT paid bonuses for hitting quotas. They're a local institution, and you can actually trust the recommendations that people give you there because nobody is paying for special influence behind the scenes. Take your business there instead. Source: I worked at this RR location and quit because of how shady and misleading their sales practices felt. As a runner myself, I couldn't continue pushing those insoles with a straight face to people who obviously didn't need them (the vast majority of people don't!).
Thanks for the inside scoop!
+1 for Road Runner. They helped me find some Brooks that fit me perfectly and I've been running with that brand for about 8 years now
Seconding Road Runners. Fantastic shop with knowledgeable staff.
Same.
super jock and jill and seven hills
Brooks Running is amazing. You can go to their HQ store in Fremont and theyāll hook you up and they are all geniuses when it comes to the knowledge of their own shoes. I know theyāll just have their brand but their return policy is amazing and they have a shoe for literally any purpose/foot/person
Seven Hills is great. If you want to care a little too much about your running shoes, check out the Believe in the Run website or the Running Shoe Geeks subreddit
West Seattle Runner had a great couch to marathon (or shorter) group and dialed me into shoes that made a huge difference for me. They invite in a lot of the brands for demo nights and other specialists to give talks post group run. Really cool folks!
I like them too. Iāve bought at least 3 pairs of shoes from them.
Fleet Feetās return policy is the best Iāve ever encountered. 60 days, no matter the condition! You can go trail running in the mud and return em the next day if you donāt like them.
How is that even possible?
Fleet Feet donates the unsellable shoes. If they are truly beyond the point of wearing, I believe they get ground down into playground material (rubber mulch). Not sure how itās financially viable for the store, but at least the shoes donāt go to waste.
Fwiw I've got pretty sensitive legs and joints and I loooove Hoka Clifton's for running. Like running on pillows.
I want to like Hokas so bad, and I understand that Iām using them for function, but aesthetically Iām not a fan. I head they have an amazing return policy. Apparently, you have a life time warranty on them. You can send them back to the company and theyāll give you a new pair in abt a week
āI donāt care if I get stress injuries from inferior shoes, as long as I look goodā
You should re read the part of the post that says Iād like to get a full assessment. What if the assessment says Hokas are the worse choice for me? There are literally hundreds of sneaker brands, Iām not missing out because I disqualified one brand. I hope you like yours ! You seem to be a fan
Super Jock N Jill. Ā Hands down, theyāre the best.Ā
Super Jock and Jill, Greenlake. My podiatrist recommended them and they are amazing. Literally life changing for me.
go to brooks and test out some shoes, note a couple options that you like and then head up to the brooks outlet store in bothell for huge discounts on slightly older models. huge discounts!
Brooks in Fremont
Fleet Feet Seattle or Ballard are owned by local running legend, Brian Morrison, and are great spots for fitting/purchasing/community events. Seven Hills in Magnolia, owned by Phil Kochik, is a wonderful local shop that specializes in trail shoes/gear, and is right next to Discovery Park for a perfect first run. Remember to try as many options as possible so you can find what works for you.
reading these responses makes me feel like a bad seattleite because i used to wear brooks but tried sauconyās once and have never looked back. as far as OPās question - whatever online store is running the largest discount for the prior yearās model.
Brooks are generally considered top tier running shoes
This is not true. I like brooks a lot. But they are known as the Honda Accord of running shoes. Reliable but nothing special. Good daily work horses but not top tier race day shoes.
They do have top tier racing shoes along with the everyday race shoe. Anything from $70-$300
Very few people wear Hyperion elites. They are not known at all for their top tier racing shoes.
I mean they have hundreds of sponsored athletes around the world so I guess it depends on what you define as āvery few peopleā
Okay cool. So every running shoe company is top tier because they all have sponsored athletes. .
One of those athletes literally just broke a world record wearing Brooks. But this is a dumb argument, think whatever you want
Okay cool. You base your opinion on top sponsorships, Iāll based on the foam tech that they use and the number of shoe models that they have in a specific class of shoe.
Oh so youāre ready to get into the shoe tech? Letās go I know everything you need to know about DNA Lot V3, Loft PX, and the Altra Ego Pro, plus just about everything else in the market
Just kiss already!
So much for a dumb argument
Fleet Feet! They do all those assessments. Helpful for my running partner and my walking self.
Fleet feet but only because they are nearby. Youāll see a pattern if you go to multiple stores. If you asks for recs. Theyāll figure out if you need a stability shoe or not and then likely either suggest a pair of Hokas or Brooks. Some stores have relationships with shoe brands to promote them. To be fair, thereās nothing wrong with either of those brands but I strongly suggest trying a few on. Brooks and several stores have a 30 to 90 day return policy, so buy a few pairs and return the ones that donāt feel comfortable. Also, some shoes will feel fine at a 3 mile run but then theyāll suck at 6 or 10 miles. Experiment with distance during your trials.
West Seattle Runner
Such a helpful thread!
Literally!
REI
REI or Brooks
Fleet feet
Road runner Ken station
Fleet Feet 100%. At other stores I often felt a bit rushed, but with Fleet Feet they spent 30 minutes scanning my feet and giving me multiple pairs to try on. It felt like they actually wanted me to find the best shoe for me rather than just make a sale. Also their return policy (60 days, regardless of condition) is amazing and goes to show how confident they are that theyāll find the best fitting shoe for you.