Marathon Sports CEO Ben Cooke and store designer Holly Weise of 3 Dots Design talk about the recently opened trail centric store in North Conway, NH. The pair talk about the vision to bring the look and feel of famous UTMB (Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc) to a run store. And the challenges in doing that: building a giant rock wall, working with brand partners and getting the kegerator to work. Ben also pulls back the curtain on Marathon's new branding and the store's goal to be " the trusted guide to run culture" in the Northeast.

Two great perspectives on what makes run specialty work. From Tokyo, we are joined by CEO of ASICS America Kodama-san. He expounds on the brand's commitment to run specialty and discusses the changing running landscape in the United States and around the world. Our retail guest is Aleighsha Nichols, GM of Running Lab in Michigan, the reigning store of the Year. Aleighsha recounts her career journey and her adventures in retail. Listen in for her inspiring, entertaining tale. And as a bonus, we are joined by Bobby Rossi, CEO of the Runningman Festival who talks about his event and offers up discounted admission for Slingin' Shoes listeners.

Mark and Chris deliver their hot take on the annual Best Running Stores List. And are joined by Genae Salinas and Emma Galeckas of TRE who explain how the list was developed and how they have adapted the criteria over the past two years. We also get into how business can be better for run stores in a candid discussion with Josh Higgins of OS1st. How can stores drive more traffic, increase frequency of visits and boost the average units per transaction. Listen in for our ideas.