How we can help you
As one of the UK’s leading running and fitness specialist retailers we pride ourselves on our industry leading technical product knowledge and excellent customer service. Established in Portsmouth in 1981 we specialise in combining customer care with technical knowledge to produce a great shopping experience.
Harnessing a deep understanding of running and fitness biomechanics (the way your body moves), as well as technical product knowledge that will impress hardcore product geeks, we use this expertise to match you with the most suitable pair of trainers for your individual biomechanics and needs. Let’s not get too carried away with just shoes! We also supply a fantastic range of running and fitness apparel, accessories, sports nutrition, electronics as well as a range of supplementary services such as: video gait analysis, accelerometer-based gait analysis, custom moulded orthotics, shoe modifications and repairs, in-shoe corrections, bra-fitting, racket re-stringing and more!
Although we have been retailing online since the year 2000, we have always been very much focused on in-store service so we admit that we have never been an E-commerce leader; but with the launch of this website we have decided to carry across everything we have learnt about selling shoes and our customer service heritage to the online environment and invest a lot more into serving our website customers better.
Our aim is to become the UK’s number 1 specialist sports retailer at both in-store and online customer service within the next ten years. By being big enough to serve effectively, but small enough to care, our aim is not to be the biggest, but certainly the best!
Customer Service
Without our customers we would not be here, so we appreciate every customer we have, you won’t find us disappearing when you need us or shying away into a stock room; in fact you may sometimes have to forgive our enthusiasm!
In-store we are always working with our customers to ensure that they are completely happy with their purchases and this ethos continues online with hassle free web-returns. We also care about every single order irrespective of size; so whether you order a single energy bar or a top-of-the-range GPS unit we will do our utmost to ensure you receive the same level of service every time.
One of our core values is “constant never-ending improvement” and whilst we apply this to everything we do, we would say that our service to you as a customer is at the top of the list; so if you have any ideas or suggestions on how we could improve, please let us know and we’ll do our best to embrace them.
Referrals
Many people say that they will only visit a new shop or business if they are recommended by someone they know. We are very pleased to say that the vast majority of our new customers are referred or recommended to us by friends, family, doctors, podiatrists, health-care professionals, gym instructors and many others. In fact we have more customers come to us by referral than all other reasons combined!
We believe that our years of experience have enabled us to build a strong, trustworthy and well respected reputation.
But don’t just take our word for it, check out the videos below of what local professionals such as gym owners and podiatrists think.
Knowledge and Experience
With over thirty years of experience in the sports industry we feel we have learnt a thing or two about fitting shoes and advising our customers on relevant products; however we recognise that learning never stops and so we have invested in a curriculum of training for all of our sales staff that is perpetual.
Our footwear consultants undergo a strict selection process, where only those with a degree in sports science or similar subjects will be considered for the role. Furthermore, as trainees, our footwear consultants aren’t even introduced to the shoe fitting process until they have completed their 3 month basic training; we then require them to fit running shoes under supervision for the remaining 6-9 months of their probationary period.
Some think this is a bit over-the-top, but we understand that experience is crucial and that knowledge and enthusiasm is only half the story; many of our competitors are happy for their customers to be served by someone with only a couple of days training; we believe this is simply unfeasible if you are to offer the level of service that our customers deserve.
Injuries
Road running clearly comes naturally to some; however for some of us it can be punctuated with injuries. Competitive sports are fantastic at producing injuries, because we push ourselves that much harder and some injuries come from simply overtraining or doing things we wish we hadn’t!
Whatever the cause of your injury we understand that injuries can ruin training plans, events, wellbeing and even livelihoods! So we make it our business to study sports injuries, not only their etiology (reasons/causes), but also the psychological effects; this helps us to advise on and identify injuries to a good level. We do recognise that we are not healthcare professionals and so we regularly refer customers to podiatrists, physiotherapists and other relevant health care professionals; as misdiagnosis is one of the leading causes of injury escalation.
We regularly see injuries such as: Plantar Fasciitis (policeman’s heel), Tibialis posterior dysfunction, intermetatarsal neuromas, metatarsalgia, sciatica, sessamoiditis, Achilles tendinopathies, chondromalacia patellae, shin pain, various knee pains, drunken ankle sprains and many more!
So why not come and challenge us to solve your footwear needs, because the right footwear can make miles of difference!