My friend was interested into going the minimalist route for his next shoe purchase and asked me what he should buy. I asked him if he was having any problems with his current shoe and he said no but his research on minimalist shoes led him to his decision to go that way. After discussing it with him, he wasn't interested in going BF, I told him to look into NB zeros, VFFs, Kinvara, etc... and to go to the local running store to see what he liked. Once there the store representative told him that minimalist running shoes are a fad and that they promote injury! He decided to go elsewhere for his purchase. Thoughts?
Shoe store is anti-minimalist shoe!
- Thread starter gokuflip
- Start date
NickW
Guest
80% of the time, people who work in shops know absolutely nothing about what they sell. In big chains and stuff it's like 99% imo. The jocks who work in running/sports shops think they know everything but I bet they've received zero training. Just like the guys in PC World know nothing about computers!
I'm acquainted with the owner through facebook so I sent her this private message:
I just sent my friend over to your store to look into buying some minimalist shoes. He informed me he was told by your sales representative that minimalist running is a fad and that he shouldn't look into them because they cause and promote injury. As a result he decided to look elsewhere for his minimalist shoe purchase. As a VFF runner who just completed 2 full marathons and has gotten PRs in both races, injury free. I strongly disagree. I would like to continue to send people over to your store but if this is the stance that will be taken on the minimalist topic by your employees I will not be referring anyone else there for minimalist shoes.
Thanks TJ. I started a running group in my small community and only tell people about my vibrams when asked. Because of that some have showed interest into switching to a more minimalist shoe. I knew it might be a crap shoot sending him there and was upset at when he encountered. I hope they enlighten their employees to keep their negative views on minimalism to themselves.
So this was the stores response:
Thanks for writing. I spoke with Jackie about the incident with your friend. She said she and Randy had several people come in today that were interested in Vibrams or a minimalist type shoe. 2 of them bought a pair, another person, a guy, did not. I assume this is your friend. she relayed the following information to me regarding him.
"I don't know what particular customer you are refering to; however, I would be more than willing to talk with the customer to clear the air about any misconceptions of a minimalist shoe. I would also, like to apologize to the customer for any misunderstanding. We do have a step by step guide to running in the Vibram Fivefingers and Sabine (Vibram Representative) is always willing to answer any questions that I may have about the Vibrams.
I did have a few customers try on minimalist shoes today. There was one male customer that came in today and inquired about the Vibrams and did not try it on or purchase it. I think he asked if I liked the Vibrams. I told him I do the like the Vibrams, they are very lightweight, and comfortable. He asked if I run in the Vibrams, I told him I am not currently running in the Vibrams that I own, due to me needing a little more stability. That is all I remember him asking.
There are several types of minimalist shoes in various brands (Vibram Fivefingers, Kinvara's, Asics 33 Collection, MT10's, Brooks Pure Collection, etc.)
I would never deter a customer from puchasing a particular kind of shoe. Customers comes in and ask for a minimal shoe to try on I will let them try on a minimal shoe and the same goes for any other particular type of shoes.
We always ask if they would like a particular type of shoe or brand or would they like an analysis to see what shoe would create a proper fit.
I will and have made suggestions on why I think a certain shoe would benefit a customer better than another shoe base on an
analysis. Example: Customer needing a motion control shoe but ask why that shoe is better than a cushioned shoe for them.
If you have any other questions are concerns please give me a call or send me an e-mail. I am very passionate about our store and would like customers to tell others about a great experience."
I do not see from her reply that she in any way told him that it was a fad. since we sell all of the above minimalist shoes she mentioned, it would not be in our best interest to not try to sell one of those brands. I am sorry your friend thought it best to go somewhere else for his shoes. I can guarantee you that if something was said that caused him to look elsewhere, it won't happen again. I hope you will continue to send people our way.
The only problem with the store managers response was that the worker my friend talked to was male! I have since replied to this message and told her that he spoke to a guy. She said she will speak to him to make sure he is better at customer service and that this will not happen again. Issue resolved 
Oops! Boy, I feel sorry for the poor sales lady that wasn't involved in that exchange at all. But the manager's right. I bet it won't happen again, with either the man or the lady.
Just out of curiosity is this a retail chain shoe store or a local endeavor? Personally I'm starting to see a trend in chain locations are slowly warming up to minimalist shoes and even a few showing some hostility to the idea but in every situation where there is hostility it's due to lack of training and not personal opinion. On many occasions I've been stopped and questioned about my VFF's by sales people in chain stores just out of sheer curiosity as to how they compare to traditional shoes which usually contradicts the training they have gotten through their shoe department.
I agree that it can be iffy on whether or not the shoe store employees know enough at times and that's not their fault on most occasions. The problem is where the information comes from. The only info these people get is from the shoe reps who come in and teach them about the shoes their company makes. On any given day these poor people can be told something that contradicts everything else they know and sort of have to go with it because that is the information given them by the "people who know". The problem with that is that most of these product reps are just spouting off sales pitches given to them by marketing teams who want the shoes to sell. I'm now one of those product reps and I spend most of my time having to properly educate these staffs instead of talking about the shoes I'm presenting. I don't mind because once they properly understand the body's mechanics and how things really function then they know what's right for each individual customer. It's a crazy system but it's the one that is in place so I'll just keep giving the actual science to people and the shoes will sell from there. Hopefully the rest of the industry will begin to give actual science based info to these people instead of giving them a bunch of marketing gimmick info.
