Indie store profile: Halifax’s Aerobics First

Luke McDonald is a partner with Margaret Armour and Dean Cheverie at Aerobics First in Halifax. The store has stood in the same location since May of 1980 but has endured the changing running and fitness landscapes of over three decades.

We caught up with McDonald to talk abut what has made Aerobics First a go-to store in Halifax.

Canadian Running: What makes Aerobics First unique from other retail stores and specialty running stores?

I think the biggest thing is that we are continuous learners. We never stop reading and going to the highest level running clinics that are available.

CR: How do you play a role in the running community in Halifax?

Well, as an example, Jeff Zahavich, who runs a new business called Kinesio Sport Lab is an exercise physiologist. He’s a top brain locally, but he’s just out of university and we helped him by giving him the keys to our store in order to test the market to see if he could actually open kinesio Sport lab as a business. [Editor’s note: McDonald actually cut him a set of keys to start his business in the store.] He now has a business that is extremely viable, is open and he’s considered one of the top trainiers in Atlantic Canada. He runs a very specific endurance lab. That’s mutually beneficial in that he gets people coming in his door and, because he does a lot of heart rate-based training, he can suggest proper equipment and what type of heart rate monitor might be best for that person and from our end we get to send people there who purchased a heart rate monitor knowing that they actually will get the right information in order to operate it properly.

So, there are little things like that which create a strong symbiotic relationship within the halifax running community. We do that with physios and chiropractors, and try to figure out who the best of the best are and associate ourself with them to create a very wholistic and independent approach to helping somene improve their running.

CR: Any interesting history to the store? Events you used to host?

We’ve always tried to adapt. There was a time when we sold bikes, wind surfers, we manufactured colthing ourselves back in the early days because we always adjusted with the times, based on the trends while keeping a focus on running. One of those trends was skiing and we’ve sort of stuck to our guns in terms of alpine skiing. Not only are we a run shop all year, we’re a ski shop from September to March

CR: Are there any products you carry which might not be found elsewhere in Halifax?

Well, you can find anything in Halifax because everything’s on the internet, so it’s all available. We try to find the best products from the best people that are available.

So, almost everything is available, but as a storefront we have the brand Altra, which is a zero-drop, more minimalist shoe that has a very specific fit which is excellent for width fitting. The minimalist market is shirinking and a lot of the companies are pulling back their selection of minimal shoes and we’re also losign width selection. We believe that’s a category that is going to have sustainablity, just not in a faddish nature. Altra would be a brand that’s not very accessible through anybody except us.

CR: What makes your staff best for selling these products when they can be purchased on the internet?

Because we go to these seminars, we take our staff with us to the running injury clinics for physiotherapists, and if they don’t go to them we provide the materials from the courses and that’s the sort of stuff we train on a weekly basis. We incorporate the knowledge of the top physiotherapists into our practice directly, but we try not to overstate our position. One of our most common questions when someone is coming in the door is “who’s your phsyio?” and “what exercises are you doing to prevent your runing injury?” People put too much emphasis on the shoe. We think it’s not right.

CR: Any final comments?

I just say that we’re proud partners with the Inedependent Running Retailers Canada. Before we were an island and now we can shop between our stores and trade staff between stores. We can ship products and do shoe counts. As a collective with almost 40 stores, we’re more connected and we don’t like we’re all lost.