In Needham, a town rife with road races in all seasons, opening a store that caters to runners just made sense. Tim Cimeno, owner of the recently opened Run House, said he’d been looking for a spot in Needham for a while, so when 943 Great Plain Ave. became available, he didn’t hesitate.
The newest downtown storefront is the fourth location Cimeno has opened since 2020. For more than 15 years he worked at Marathon Sports, but he always knew he wanted to go out on his own. He recruited Needham High School cross country and track and field coach Chris Van Cott, a former Marathon colleague, to join him in his latest venture. He said in the past week, many people have seen Van Cott’s familiar face and stopped in.
On Sept. 4, the store hosted a soft opening for the high school teams, and it was so successful Cimeno decided to stay open even as they await final inventory.
The store is lined with many varieties of sneakers for all types of exercise. It also carries lifestyle apparel and accessories.
“We carry specialty running and walking shoes,” said Cimeno. “We fit for that and make recommendations.”
The store has a medical-grade pressure-plate scanner that takes a 3D model of customers’ feet, and then employees will select shoes and study how customers walk and run to make the most tailored selection.
Both Cimeno and Van Cott said their personalized approach and the smaller, community-based approach sets the store apart from the larger chains. “There’s a lot to be said for individual assistance from a retail standpoint,” said Van Cott. “Not just individual, but expertise. Really having that family feel among the employees and then being able to extend it to the community I think is a key piece as well.”
In addition to the four brick-and-mortar stores, Run House has 300 online stores for schools and sports teams. The team has its own warehouse in Walpole where it can customize apparel, sunglasses, Stanley tumblers and more.
“It’s hard to explain how our customization is more unique than anybody else’s,” said Cimeno. “We do our own printing and our own logos. It’s much faster, you can get it a few days later all customized. You can customize it any way you want — and not just the running sports, all youth sports in town.”
Run House sponsors the NHS cross country and track teams, offering discount events and online give-backs. It will have a grand opening in a few weeks once the final products are in.
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