Community

The opportunity to support events that you participate in through out the year comes from customers like you who see the value in shopping with our locally owned and operated business.

Top Ten Reasons To Buy Local

1. Buy Local — Support yourself: Several studies have shown that when you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than nationally owned businesses, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms — continuing to strengthen the economic base of the community. FrontRunner is locally owned and operated since its inception in 1987, and in 2015 merged with locally owned and operated Fleet Feet Sports, which opened in 2004.

2. Support community groups: Non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses. Fleet Feet and FrontRunner sponsor over 150 local road races each year, each of these events support community based non-profits. 

3. Keep our community unique: Where we shop, where we eat and have fun — all of it makes our community home. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of this place. Our tourism businesses also benefit. “When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.” -Richard Moe, President, National Historic Preservation Trust. Located in in three convenient location Fleet Feet and FrontRunner offer ease of shopping regardless of where you live and work. FrontRunner and Fleet Feet Sports offer community residents and visitors to Columbus a unique specialty store experience vastly different from chain or big box stores. 

4. Reduce environmental impact: Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases requiring less transportation and generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.  Employees reside within a 20 mile radius of Fleet Feet Sports and FrontRunner, limiting their carbon footprint.

5. Create more good jobs: Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally and, in our community, provide the most jobs to residents. FrontRunner and Fleet Feet Sports employees are all residents of Columbus with a diverse range of educational and professional backgrounds. 

6. Get better service: Local businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products they are selling and take more time to get to know customers. Our employees are runners, walkers and serious fitness enthusiasts. FrontRunner and Fleet Feet Sports sales associates work one-on-one with customers, and spend as much time as needed to ensure customer satisfaction. Need to make a purchase at FrontRunner or Fleet Feet and unable to make it to one of our two locations? Give us a call at 614.486.0301 (UA), 614.846.5625 (LC), or 614.847.0301 (WT) and we can handle your needs over the phone and ship your purchase to you. If your purchase is over $50, we will ship it to anywhere in Ohio for FREE! Your can also shop with us online!

7. Invest in community: Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the community’s future. The owner of FrontRunner and Fleet Feet is a permanent resident of Columbus. Each year we donate thousands to local high school teams, Girls on the Run, Mid-Ohio Foodbank, and more! 

8. Put your taxes to good use: Local businesses in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering the community.

9. Buy what you want, not what someone wants you to buy: A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices. FrontRunner and Fleet Feet Sports are specialty running and walking stores with the purpose of providing customers with the best product to meet their shoe and apparel needs.

10. Encourage local prosperity: A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character. The essence of FrontRunner and Fleet Feet Sports is its personalized shoe fitting service, for nearly 25 years FrontRunner has been at the forefront of the industry for citizens of Columbus and surrounding counties. Our unique style of service contributes to providing the customer with an enhanced shopping experience.