We had the good fortune of connecting with Colin Klein and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Colin, what do you attribute your success to?
I am firm believer that change is good and we must continually evolve in what we do and how we do it. Our customers expect more out of us each year and we need to rise to the challenge to stay relevant. We are a specialty retail store focusing on the active lifestyle, specifically running and walking, while also creating weakly and monthly events that bring the community together.

Our customers come to us expecting a staff who are knowledgeable about our products with the ability to help them make informed decisions. We utilize technology to elevate the customer experience by providing 3d imaging of the foot , what we call fitID, which in turn helps the customer determine proper shoe size and type of shoe for their activity.

The key is to care about the details. Every aspect and every touch point with the customer is key and we must constantly evaluate how we are doing with that and make changes when needed. From the interaction with someone at our community run to a purchase they make the same day or a few weeks later, each one of those is a touch point with the customer and can lead to long term connections with a customer.

Those connections with the customers is what has built our brand. One person sharing their experience, their wow moment, with another. By sweating the small stuff we ensure we are constantly evaluating what we do and how we do it. Our goal is to tie in the decisions we make about our business to two these two core values, how does it positively affect our community, and how does it make the customer experience better.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Consumers are smart people, they choose to spend their dollars where they feel valued and for us we connect through our community and our in-store experience.

What has always been important to me is making sure that our community comes first. If the decisions we make come back to putting our community and our customers first than I firmly believed we were making the right decisions.

The hardest part of growing the business was putting that to the test. When money was tight and resources were limited it’s easy to cut corners to save on resources. I think the true test of a business is still putting it’s core values first even when it may affect the bottom line in the short term. Consumers are looking for authentic brands and business, they want to be part of and support something that in our case supports the community they take part in.

Authenticity for us has to extend also to the experience that each customer receives when shopping with us, not just what we do in the community. The details matter, if your not sweating the small stuff then you aren’t pushing each day to make your staff and your business better.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a big outdoor person, the best of LA isn’t the sights that can be seen in the city but the sights that can be seen in the outdoors. We are in a city that on any given day you can start it in the mountains and finish in the beach.

So with that in mind I would start off with a drive into the Angeles National Forest up Hwy 2. Take a stop at the Mt. Wilson Observatory and check out what I think is the coolest landmark in LA. Next stop would be a trail run or hike in Malibu Creek State Park just outside of LA. It has some of the coolest rock formations in the area and enough trails that can challenge a beginner or experienced runner alike. From there would head over the hill and do my favorite beach activity, Paddle Boarding outside of Marina Del Rey.

LA is def a city full of concrete and a ton of people, but if you know where to look we have an outdoor playground that I would put up against any other location as being the best in the country.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My shoutout doesn’t go to one person but to a group, what I call our “Run Fam”. These are folks who show up on a weakly basis to our fun runs and our training groups so that they can support those in their journey in leading healthy and active life styles. These folks are some of the most humble people you will meet and they truly care about our community and those who take part in it.

Much of our success is built around our community involvement and we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without those in our “Run Fam” who dedicate their time and energy to help us do what we do.

Website: www.fleetfeetburbank.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fleetfeet_burbank_encino/

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