About this directory

runningstores.net is an independent directory of 2,016 specialty running stores across 51 US states — the local run shops, brand flagships, and fitting-focused retailers where runners get properly sized, watch their gait analyzed, and buy shoes from people who actually run.

Why we built it

The best place to buy your first real pair of running shoes is a specialty store where someone measures both feet, watches you move, and lets you run before you buy — but those shops are surprisingly hard to find in a map search cluttered with big-box sporting-goods chains and shoe outlets. We pulled them into one place, organized by state and city, with the details that actually help: which shoe brands each shop carries, its hours, its rating, and what customers say.

Where the data comes from

Listings are compiled from public map and business data, then filtered to keep genuine running retailers and remove the noise — general department stores, gyms, sporting-goods big-boxes, and physical-therapy clinics that surface for "running" searches but don't fit shoes. Each store's location, hours, phone, rating, and review excerpts come from its public business profile.

How we verify listings

A directory is only as trustworthy as its filtering, so here's exactly how a store earns its page:

• Category screening. We start from the running-store business category and drop entries whose primary type isn't retail — no clinics, tracks, or event organizers slip through as "stores."
• Fitting & gait-analysis flag. The "expert fitting" indicator isn't guessed. We corroborate it against the shop's own website language and its customer reviews, so a store is only marked as offering gait analysis when there's real evidence it does.
• Chain de-duplication. Multi-location brands like Fleet Feet, Road Runner Sports, and JackRabbit are kept as distinct storefronts by address, but de-duplicated in rankings so one chain can't crowd out a city's independents.
• Rolling re-crawls. We refresh the dataset on a rolling basis to catch closures, relocations, and new openings, and we correct any listing a store owner or reader flags.

We are an independent directory and are not affiliated with, or paid by, the stores we list — rankings are driven by customer ratings and review volume, never by payment.

Corrections

Every store page links to the shop's own website when it has one. If you own a store and want a correction — hours, address, a fitting flag, or a listing that shouldn't be here — email hello@runningstores.net and we'll fix it in the next refresh.

This site is supported by advertising.