The Daily Pennsylvanian
The sports apparel and footwear store in David Pottruck Health and Fitness Center reopened on Sept. 1 as The Sports Shop at Penn, a specialty store that features many Nike items.
As it switched to a new vendor, the store also changed its original name -- Penn Running Store -- in order to include a broader base of customers.
The possibility of a Nike-concept store was first conceived when the previous vendor, the Haddonfield Running Company, sold its business, Recreation Director Mike Diorka said.
As the Pottruck center searched for a new vendor, it approached Nike with the possibility of a specialty store since the company is a sponsor of the Penn Relays and had sold its products at the relays before.
Nike then put Penn in contact with Philadelphia Runner, a sports-gear vendor that has a large account with Nike and is able to sell Nike items that may be unavailable elsewhere.
Besides Penn's link with Nike through the Penn Relays, "most of the footwear you actually see in [Pottruck] is Nike," Diorka said, citing another factor that encouraged the specialty store.
However, the actual store itself also sells some items of other sports brands.
Philadelphia Runner has another retail location on 16th and Sansom streets.
Bryan Mahon, one of the two managers at The Sports Shop at Penn, noted this geographical closeness as an advantage to its partnership with the University.
If the shop runs out of shoes of certain sizes, he said, it can easily be resupplied by the Center City store.
The store will operate on a similar template as that of previous years. It will have the same hours of operation and also has an upcoming sidewalk sale with discounted items.
However, Diorka noted the vision of "transforming [the store experience] into a little more than coming and putting in your dollar."
"We are here to educate on footwear," Mahon said.
The store will have foot-strike analysis, which analyzes how efficiently people are running. It can then fit its customers with shoes that best balance their steps.
Pottruck is also planning on inviting representatives from different brands to educate on "the technology of the shoe" in the context of exercising, especially running.
Compared to the previous vendor, Diorka said, "Philadelphia Runner is much more capable and has much more support" in its contact with representatives.
Philadelphia Runner also noted the difference in the new store from its store in Center City. The new store focuses on "things that complement this gym," Mahon said, and sells items such as swim goggles that "tailor to [student] needs" and are not sold in its other location.
"A lot of colleges don't have what we have," Diorka said, noting the lack of "full-fledged" retail locations in sports facilities of other campuses.
Gym users such as medical researcher Kathy Gallagher and College sophomore Rachel Goodman believe a specialty store in Pottruck is a good idea.
Gallagher said that many of her friends favor Nike, especially for running shoes. She had also bought shoes before from the previous sports store in the location.
Goodman believed that the store is a good retail option as there are no other such stores nearby, but she was not aware of the new store opening.
"Obviously they haven't spread the word very well," she said.
The sports-gear retail location has been in Pottruck for three years, with Philadelphia Runner as its third vendor.
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