Best Running Store, Reader's Choice and readers' choice: Fleet Feet Sports (owner Dave Zimmer)

Jason Creps

Reader’s Choice

Fleet Feet Sports

Fleet Feet Sports is one of the best stores in Chicago, period. Their products are diverse and fairly priced, and the sales reps, many of them serious runners, are knowledgeable and welcoming to walkers and marathoners alike. The store carries 13 shoe brands, giving geekier companies like Saucony and Brooks equal footing with giants Nike and Adidas, and a broad selection of apparel and accessories appropriate for a multitude of sports. Owner and triathlete Dave Zimmer says FFS was the first in the city to offer customers a gait analysis—an examination of your biomechanics to determine the best fitting shoe—now standard practice at running shops. The store is also extremely active in the community: aside from the thrice-weekly fun runs it hosts, it sponsors or produces hundreds of races, aid stations, and training courses each year. The new Wells location (it moved from around the block on North in January) is roomier, with two treadmills and a jogging track.  1620 N. Wells, 312-587-3338, and 4555 N. Lincoln, 773-271-3338, fleetfeetchicago.com. —Ryan Hubbard

Readers’ Choice

Fleet Feet Sports

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