At the same time, another customer came for a shoe fitting for his casual jogging habit. At Finish Strong, all skill levels are welcome, Cooper said.
“You’ve got one foot arch from mom and one from dad,” Cooper tells one customer with a laugh. “No problem, I see that all the time.”
Cooper has analyzed enough gaits over his 17 years in business to know how to match any shoe to any customer, he said.
“We tell people all the time that it’s the same shoe, whether you walk your dog or you’re running 100 miles a week,” he said. “You just want a shoe to complement your foot type.”
Cooper, a seasoned runner, mostly uses his shoes for walking his dog at Memorial Park, but he is planning on training for a half-marathon again soon.
He got his start in the running shoe business after a stint in the corporate world. Although he did not have much retail experience, his passion for running provided all the insight he needed, he said.
Offering several top brands of running shoes in a variety of colors as well as a few select styles that are exclusive to his store, Cooper also sells running apparel, socks, energy packs and accessories.
Returning customers can opt into a database of transactions that tracks which shoes they bought and when. It is the attention to detail that keeps customers returning, he said.
“It’s a level of service you really can’t get at a big-box store in my opinion, because they don’t have the technical skills or training,” Cooper said. “We still get training from the actual vendor or representative from the brand, and they come back because they want us to be an expert on the product.”
Finish Strong Sports
6426 Washington Ave., Houston
713-861-9779
www.finishstrongsports.com
Hours: Sun. noon-5 p.m., Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
