After 30 years in business, Garry Gribble has hung up his retail running shoes.
On Nov. 19, the 75-year-old Gribble finalized the sale of his five-store chain, Garry Gribble’s Running Sports, to Running Specialty Group of Denver, which operates running specialty stores in 15 states and the District of Columbia under a variety of names.
“It’s been fun, but 30 years is really a long time to be in retail as an independent operator,” Gribble said. “I need the break.”
Customers of Garry Gribble’s Running Sports locations in Kansas City, Independence, Overland Park, Lawrence and Topeka, Kan., probably haven’t noticed the ownership change, Gribble said. But they should benefit from it in the future.
“The company that I sold the stores to is going to carry on in the same tradition, and it’s just going to get better,” he said. “They’re going to keep the store name. They’re going to keep the employees. But they have more money. They’re spending a lot in the stores on new hardware, new software, more product. There are times, when you’re a retailer, when the cash flow is kind of tight. These guys, they don’t have that problem.
“I’m only with them for 30 days after the sale. After that, it’s their baby. Well, it’s their baby now. They’re not coming around asking me, ‘Garry, how did you do this and how did you do that?’ They have 64 stores, so they don’t need me to reinvent the wheel.”
Following a 16-year career with Hallmark Cards, Gribble opened his first running specialty store in 1984 at Ward Parkway Shopping Center. Although he went on to sell a lot of running shoes and apparel, it’s the relationships with his employees that helped him go the distance.
“I felt like an athletic director or a coach,” Gribble said. “In 30 years, I’ve had a lot of college kids, and a lot of people come and go. They’re not married, and then they come back to see me and they’re married. And they come back again, and they have kids.
“I’ve got like a Hall of Fame of lawyers and dentists and doctors. They come back and talk to me and say, ‘Garry, I really had a great time. It was the best job.’ And that makes me feel good.”
Gribble’s advice to other independent retailers: Stay close to your business, make sure you have enough money and keep reaching out. Gribble, for example, has been a major sponsor of local running events.
“Try to continually reach out to the community, especially here in Kansas City,” he said. “I’m not from here. I’ve lived in three other cities. This is a great place to live. People are very friendly. And if you just keep reaching out to the community, you get rewarded for it.”
