Fleet Feet Menlo Park — Local services in Menlo Park

I'm a long-time fan of Fleet Feet Menlo Park. Over the past few years, they've helped me so many times, finding just the right shoe, or giving me just the right advice to help me through a 50K, several marathons, and now I'm training for a 100K. Their advice and expertise has been priceless. In fact, when I tweaked my knee right before my first 50K, their thoughtful advice (& a compression sleeve) got me through a successful race. I tried a lot of other stores before I found Fleet Feet, but I found that Fleet Feet Menlo Park's salespeople are by far the most knowledgeable and helpful.

Yesterday, I brought in a good friend so she could get running shoes (she'd used hiking shoes to run that morning) -- it was crazy busy as the store was having a sale. Despite this, Jim & David took such good care of my friend - finding her just the right shoes & arch supports that she was absolutely thrilled about. They measured her feet - (my friend sent me the image the store had sent her & said she hasn't been so excited about an image since her pregnancy ultrasound, ha.)

I liked that Jim & Dave first thoroughly talked with my friend about her running history, issues, and aspirations, and only then suggested appropriate shoes -- all of which fit her great, and one was a stand-out. My friend loves the pair she selected. Thanks so much for helping runners of all abilities and with all sorts of feet and all sorts of goals find just the right shoe to keep them running happy & healthy!

As background, when I was in my 20s, I would buy cheap shoes & run in them. After two marathons and years of shin splints (I wonder why), I gave up running for decades.

In my late 40s, I tried wearing better shoes & running trails. What a difference! I'm now a convert that buying new running shoes is the BEST investment ever. Would you rather spend $100 on new shoes or get an injury that sends you to the doctor?

But finding the right shoes is tricky as I found at some other stores (after wasting hundreds of dollars). The salespeople recommended shoes they thought work for me but didn't, sometimes exacerbating an injury.

Every time Fleet Feet Menlo Park has recommended shoes for me or given me advice, it's been right on the money, from when I was training for my 5K or a 50K. I give them absolutely my highest...

Overall, the customer service was great. My wife & I both came here to get running shoes. My wife has enjoyed her shoes but mine have been subpar. First, the staff uses some tech to get some quantitative information about your feet. This seemed cool but I realized how it was overvalued. I may have warn a shoe 1/2 size smaller than I should have but their data said it was a full size. I said the shoe was great but it felt tooo big & they insisted that was normal. They had my wife convinced too. So I settle on their recommendation as this is their expertise. Second, they have a generous return policy but in my case it didn’t workout. I got the shoes for running outside. It was raining a lot this year so it took a couple of weeks before I could really test them out. Then, the shoes were a completely different fit so I figured there would be an adjustment period. I found my foot would ache in the shoes & the amount of lift I could get was insufficient. It just felt my toes were positioned too far back. After three months, it never got better. Eventually, I randomly shifted back to my old running shoe & my foot barely ached. I also felt like I got better lift. It was my fault not using their generous 60-day return policy earlier but they were pretty convincing saying “you need to be a full size up!”. They’re the experts so I figured I was a bit insane.

Nevertheless, a rule of thumb: Dont just trust the quantitative data, take in the qualitative data. If you tell a customer they’ve been running in a shoe on size too small but they never complained that their toes were crammed, maybe the quantitative data is a touch off. While my experience here is a bit disappointing, my wife got a running shoe she’s VERY happy with. So...

Disclaimer, I just posted this same review on Yelp, but wanted to include it here too I just got back from a trip to Fleet Feet. I am so impressed, and really glad I stopped in. The past few weeks I've been plagued by plantar fasciitis, and I know it must at least be partly due to my own negligence wearing unsupportive, old shoes for my workouts. When I arrived, David helped me right away. I was really impressed with David from start to finish: he introduced himself with a handshake, took time to listen to what was bothering me and asked great questions about the type of workouts I do, how I use my shoes, etc, and never once did he leave me to help another customer or let his attention be taken away by other things in the store. He even told me knotted calf muscles can contribute to fasciitis and showed me how to identify the knots and massage them out. He helped me pick out shoes, insoles, and recommended a compression sleeve, all the while explaining the different aspects of the shoes - support, cushion, stability. He trimmed my insoles to fit my shoes and gave me advice on how to rotate them throughout my other pairs of shoes. The selection here is awesome, I was totally occupied with the shoes today but I could see they carry a lot of high quality stuff. Were the prices higher than elsewhere? Yes, a bit, and you aren't going to find discount shoes. However, rather than saving 20% or 30% at a big box store, come here and pay full price, you'll actually be walking away with much more than the value of the shoes when you account for the personal attention and knowledge the employees impart on their customers. I could see another women getting the same detailed attention as I was, so I know this is the...