Why Buy Running Shoes Anywhere else? roadrunnersports.com
Written: Dec 14 '01
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The Bottom Line
Long a catalog retailer, Roadrunner Sports is one of the best online sites for running shoes and other gear; plus fitness and training information.
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| Full Review |
You know you've been buying running shoes a long time when you can remember shopping for running gear using the 800 numbers in the back of "Runner's World." Just think: ordering shoes over the phone; trusting some stranger with your credit card number, waiting for the gear to show up in the mail. It was just a lot simpler to go down to the store and buy your shoes, right?
Except that you could save $15, $25, even $40 on shoes that way! And you could even get shoes (and sizes) the mall stores didn't carry! So you found a model you liked (paying full price at the local Foot Locker or Athlete's Foot) and then bought the next few pair by phone, until the manufacturer discontinued the style and you had to start all over again. At least that's the way we did it, back in the dark ages before the 'Net. Instead of talking to a teenager wearing a striped shirt and the latest fashion-accessory shoes, we developed a relationship with some poor slob sitting at a VDT in a dark room, wearing a headset. For most of the mail-order shoe fans I've met over the years, the poor slob was sitting in an office in California at Roadrunner Sports.
Well, nowadays, Roadrunner has a website -- no excuse me, Roadrunner sports has the website for running shoe buyers. Forget your Fogdog, forget your Oshman's/Gart Brothers, forget even your REI (unless you want good hiking boots). Roadrunner Sports has it all!
So let's take a quick look at what Roadrunner has to offer:
Look and Feel: three stars
They're not all that hung up, apparently, on having the coolest website out there (to me, that's a good thing). The front page is cluttered and rather clunky, but it still gets you where you want to go: to the goodies! Since the site is primarily for runners -- not for fashion-shoe buyers -- there's a running tip of the day in the center of the page, and links to the catalog and specials sort of spiral out from that point.
The key front page links are to a Men's Running Store, a Women's Running Store, and to Specialty Stores. The Men's and Women's Running store links yield popout links to shoe, apparel, and accessory stores. The Specialty store button can send you to a Sports Bra store, and Nike and Asics stores. Roadrunner has for years been the largest retailer of Asics shoes in the world, and though they stopped selling Nike shoes for a while a decade or so ago, they're obviously back in that business, too.
There's also a Clearance Store, with links to sites for both men and women, where last year's colors and styles are available at deep discounts (though not in all sizes).
Special Tools: Five Stars
First and foremost, it's a runner's site, so there are tools for runners, including shoe comparisons, medical advice, a fitness calculator, newsletters, and an online running log site (requires sign-in). Should you want to look for a new style of shoes, they also provide shoe equivalence charts (what Asics shoe is the same as a Puma model), and a shoe recommendation area that can give you a list of shoes based on your size, foot and foot-strike types, and running habits.
For the hard-to-fit, check out the Shoe Dog (he'll retrieve shoes in your size) and the Size-O-Meter -- fill in your gender, size, and width, and get back a list of the shoes currently available in that size. Face it, there aren't shoes in every size (I tried women's 14-AAA and got no hits) but there are in most (men's 6-D returned eight hits).
Finding the Right Shoe... A Five-Star Selection
In any of the shoe stores (Men's / Women's / Clearance) you can search on brand, type, size, or width of shoe (or any combination of the four). You can also get Shoe Dog" recommendations (see above). Once you've filled in your search criteria, you'll get a page showing the available matches, with prices. Each match has a link to the shoe's "home page," which shows pictures of the upper and the sole, advises you on the fit size (do they run small? large? or can you buy them in your usual size?). A chart of user ratings and a link to user comments can also be reached from this page. Not only do they carry the most common brands (Nike, Asics, New Balance, Reebok, Adidas), but they also carry less common brands (Mizuno, Saucony, Brooks) and brands that are fairly rare in the mall stores (Fila, Ryka, Puma).
A useful tool is the side-by-side comparison, which allows you to look at the properties and price of two different shoes in side-by-side displays. This is a heck of a lot easier than poking around in your history list!
By the way, any page in the site can be reached without pictures for those among us still using dial-up instead of broadband connections (Thanks for thinking of us!)
At the Right Price... Normal Prices Three Stars, Sale Prices Five Stars
Prices at Roadrunner aren't so deeply discounted as they once were. A quick survey of several brands suggests that the usual price is $5 off the list price of a shoe (Nikes aren't discounted at all). Members of the "Run America Club" get an additional 5% discount on all items; this costs $19.95 per year (ten years ago it was only $10).
Clearance prices are much better bargains: shoes are discounted as much as 80%, though common sizes quickly become unavailable. This is a great place to pick up a pair or two of your favorite shoes when the maker discontinues them Run America Club members are notified in advance when the shoes go to the clearance area; giving them first pick.
Other Shoes; Other Gear: Another Five-Star Selection
Besides ordinary running shoes, Roadrunner also sells racing flats and walking, cross-training, and cross-country shoes; plus a small selection of casual shoes. There are also a few styles of sandals. The women's shoe store carries all the same shoe types as the men's store; and there is a separate kid's department for the young runner.
Gear? did you say, "Gear"? Anything you could ever want for yourself (or as a gift) can be bought from Roadrunner: shirts, shorts, warmup suits, singlets, tights, socks, watches, hear-rate monitors, posters, software, nutritional supplements, books, videos, even fitness equipment (treadmills and steppers, for instance). It's all in there.
Payment and Shipping: Three Stars (Average)
The normal credit card options apply: Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, and Discover.
US shipping for orders placed over the internet is a flat $7.99 per order (regardless of your purcahse amount, except for fitness equipment). Phone and Fax orders are shipped at $6.99 for the first item, plus additional charges for more items. COD is available at an additional charge, as is next-day delivery. Members of the Run America Club get two-day ground delivery for free, it's an additional $5.99 for everyone else.
Shipping rates to Canada aren't quoted on-line; other international orders are shipped by FedEx, DHL, etc., and vary depending on the destination.
Return Policy: Three Stars (Average)
Returns will be accepted for purchased items if they are returned unused within thirty days of purchase; or if the item is found to be defective within the same period. Run America Club members have a sixty-day unconditional guarantee. Returns are made at the consumer's expense (RAC members get one free return). SO, what else is new?
Overall Rating: Four Stars
Uppers:
* Quite probably the best selection of running shoes available anywhere, either on-line or in a brick-and-mortar setting
* Anything a runner could possibly want is available
* Great search tools to help choose the right shoes, multiple routes to the right shoe
* Very good sale prices on gear that's just a bit out of fashion
* Additional tools for die-hard runners, like the running log, which makes your info accessible from any web browser in the world
Ho-Hum, Just Another On-Line Retailer:
* shallow discounts on prices of current goods
* pricey shipping (but, then, you save on driving and sales tax)
* nothing out-of-the-ordinary in the returns department
Downers:
* an absolutely hideous website -- who chose that background color, anyway?
The Last Word:
Roadrunner Sports is the place to go for all your running and similar fitness needs. If you go through shoes and other gear like a hacker goes through poptarts, then you'd be wise to join the Run America Club. Otherwise, this is a great site for getting all your running gear in a single trip to the computer -- then you can go out and run instead of fighting traffic!
http://www.roadrunnersports.com/
Recommended:
Yes
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