If you've run a 5K race or attended any run or walk in Bloomington-Normal in the last 30 years, you probably know Mitch Hobbs.
Often Running, the running shoe and apparel store in Uptown Normal that Hobbs has managed since 1995, is closing soon. Hobbs said the store will likely close in the next few weeks once its remaining inventory is sold.
Chris Koos, Normal's mayor, owns Often Running and Vitesse Cycle Shop in the same building. Vitesse will stay open.
Hobbs said there are a couple reasons for the closure. Yes, he's retiring, but the business has also been getting increasingly squeezed by online competitors and faces staffing challenges that he said would make it difficult to remain open.
Hobbs, who has been in the shoe business since 1984 and helps manage several races in Bloomington-Normal and in the LaSalle-Peru area, said customers are increasingly buying their shoes online where there's more variety. Hobbs said a small, independent store cannot compete with the larger stores or those with multiple locations that can afford to keep more variety in stock and keep prices lower.
“People’s expectations have changed and we knew this was coming 10, 15 years ago that people’s expectations of what we have and what we do is going to dramatically increase,” Hobbs said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas.
Hobbs said Often Running’s struggles have more to do with the challenges of running a small business that anything specific to the footwear market.
More runs
Races and charity runs have become increasingly popular across the country — there’s more than ever before in Bloomington-Normal — and gyms and fitness clubs are abundant across the Twin Cities.
“People are active and there’s no question about that, which is great,” he said.
Hobbs said running is so popular because it's something just about everyone can do and it’s good way to make friends.
“Usually you find… two or four people that want to do something together and half-marathons and longer distances are a great way [to bond] because you spend time training with that group and it gives you accountability as well,” Hobbs said, noting his wife Carol just completed the annual Thanksgiving Day turkey trot in Oglesby, which she has done every year since the event began 47 years ago.
Consumer trends
Hobbs said the COVID pandemic accelerated the trend of customers ordering running shoes online, as more customers no longer felt it necessary to try on multiple pairs to get the perfect fit.
“People were not interested in your recommendations. They wanted to read reviews and really didn’t want to hear what you had to say,” Hobbs said. “So it changed a lot.”
Hobbs said that offset any benefits the store may have seen as more people were encouraged to find outdoor activities when everyone was expected to shelter-in-place during the pandemic.
“I’m not sure we were technically allowed to be open, the run side. We know the bike side [Vitesse] was legal. It was always one of those gray lines that we weren’t sure. I know other run shops were open, but we were always kind of questioning that a little bit,” Hobbs said.
Minimalist craze
Often Running also endured a trend that Hobbs approached with skepticism. In the early 2010s the best-selling book Born To Run critiqued running shoe culture in the U.S. as it chronicled the lives of tribe of indigent people in the mountains of northern Mexico who run hundreds of miles a day barefoot seemingly without injury.
It led to a trend across the U.S. in minimalist footwear with less cushioning and arch support.
Hobbs said he was unconvinced that such a shoe was safer or healthier, even if some runners said it worked for them and was the subject of many conservations with curious customers.
“There’s been no proven studies that a lower drop makes any kind of difference,” Hobbs said.
Hobbs said several stores' brands sold 4 to 6-inch drops but never a zero-drop, where the heel has no elevation. He said sales of those shoes have subsided in recent years.
What’s next
Hobbs said it’s the people he’ll miss most as the business shuts down, though he’s still be involved in the Bloomington-Normal running community. He said he plans to continue helping to coordinate the annual Park-to-Park and Dogs Days races and he’s exploring some potential options beyond that.
For someone who once trekked 60-plus miles per week on his own two feet, he’s not ready to slow down entirely.
“I told Carol that I’m not going to be the guy that goes to wineries every Thursday night. That’s not going to happen," Hobbs said.
