Runner's Edge Farmingdale — Local services in Town of Oyster Bay

Sad to say I had a very poor experience here. The fit I ended up with was so poor the shoes are unusable. I can't even use the shoes for walking without developing severe blisters in the heel area. Especially disappointing since I went out of my way to drive down from the north shore due to all the positive reviews. Compared to the running store I grew up with, service was poor and nothing to ensure a good fit, like a gait analysis, was performed.

Details: I bought a pair of shoes here pre-pandemic (so things may have changed since then). Currently trying to get back into running again and realized I never left a review. As several of the other negative reviews have mentioned, I was greeted with a pretty tepid/disinterested response. The guy seemed to be mildly annoyed I was in the store and a bit irritated he had to help me. He looked at my old pair of shoes, but other than that no sort of assessment was done, not even your standard gait analysis. He didn't seem interested in answering any of my questions and the whole fitting process seemed to boil down to "do you like it? No? I'll go get another one". None of the guidance or analysis I'm used to from dedicated running shops. To his credit, however, he was patient in letting me swap between the shoes and jog up and down the indoor track.

In the end, I wound up with shoes that fit so poorly that I can't even use them for walking without developing severe blisters in the heel area. I can't tell if this is just poor shoe design (the rear actually slants forward over the heel pocket), an exceptionally poor fit, or both. The shoes were also not returnable since they were on clearance, which they did make clear to me before I purchased them.

Overall very disappointed. Maybe I just caught them on an off day, but with no analysis, little advice, and an exceptionally poor fit I don't think...

As someone who read so many positive reviews about this store I’m surprised I'm even writing this. When I walked into the store I genuinely couldn’t tell who was working. I understood the difference in level of individual attention to expect here vs the large sports retail stores, but I guess I wasn’t prepared to actually be ignored until someone could help me. I even gave an awkward wave to a customer trying on a pair of shoes thinking she was an employee, it just was that unclear. As I awkwardly paced around the store for someone to acknowledge me finally , I noticed 3 guys at a table in the back that looked like they were giving out bibs for an upcoming race. I asked the older gentleman, “sorry to be naive but does this happen to be for the Nassau County Turkey trot Sunday? To which he laughed at me and said “No it is for the Kings Park 15k”. Okay that would’ve been fine to leave it there but he followed up with saying “you should do this 15k it’s really flat”. I genuinely had no idea about this course or race so when I realized he was being really sarcastic it came off as pretty arrogant. Look, I’m not sure these men even work here but it soured the experience then on. When I finally figured out who an employee was I asked him where shorts in the store were. Figured there isn’t that much equipment for running .. shoes, shirts, shorts, socks , pretty basic. To which he said “if we have any shorts they’re on the clearance rack”. IF?! I saw 1 style of compression shorts and no thin short sleeve shirts. I know it’s November but we are still seeing 60 degrees temperatures. Idk . Wish I had a reason to give this business more than 2 stars but there’s no basis to...

So I took my friend, a long time marathon runner's advice and decided I'd visit a local shoe shop for some expertise on shoes I'm wearing. But if I were to come in and grab a pair of running shoes I already know I liked in just couple of minutes(in this case, the same ones that I already was wearing!), I would've just gone to model's or sports authority. I wanted to have some detailed conversation about my running habit, my injured knee and my feet type and all, but none of that happened. maybe I should go there more often and then they'll recognize me as a patron and then they'll be more talkative and helpful. Well, too bad because I ain't going back there again. Why should I? I already know what to buy from years of running and knowledge I have gathered over the years through my own experience and numerous internet searches. Yeah, I ended up buying, yeah, the ones that I usually buy and would've bought from anywhere else, nothing special nor meaningful happened on this visit. If you're self-trained like me and have some knowledge about yourself already over a few years of running and never have been to so-called 'expert' shoe shops, just keep it that way and just go to big box sports wear stores like model's, or even online. This one, definitely not worth the visit. I just wasted my precious weekend time and gas...