If the shoe fits, wear it--and run with it, too.At Phidippides, an Encino shoe store named after the legendary Ancient Greek Noun 1. Ancient Greek - the Greek language prior to the Roman Empire Greek, Hellenic, Hellenic language - the Hellenic branch of the Indo-European family of languages messenger, shoppers go outside for a run while the salespeople sales·peo·ple pl.n. Persons who are employed to sell merchandise in a store or in a designated territory. look at their "biomechanics The study of the anatomical principles of movement. Biomechanical applications on the computer employ stick modeling to analyze the movement of athletes as well as racing horses. Biomechanics " so they can find the footwear to match. Charlie Hoover, 56, opened the shop in 1980 as part of a franchise. The franchisor shut down, leaving Hoover and his co-owner, Craig Chambers, to operate independently. The store caters to those needing specialty shoes: runners and people with foot problems. Hoover's goal is to provide his customers with the shoe that fits. "Our mission in life is to help the customer pick from a set of shoes that's appropriate for that person's biomechanics. We're looking at how they run, whether they have a high arch high arch Pes cavus Orthopedics A foot characterized by a high anteroposterior arch, which is due to either orthopedic or neuromuscular defects or a low arch, or whether they overpronate--that's if the foot rolls in too much. We go outside and they run down the sidewalk A Microsoft service that was launched in 1997 to provide online arts and entertainment guides on the Web for major cities worldwide. In 1999, Microsoft sold Sidewalk to Ticketmaster, which continued to provide guides, ticketing and other information to the MSN network. . "On a busy Saturday we might see 150 people, on a busy weekday, probably 50 people. Our customer base is one-third orthopedic referrals, because of our knowledge of shoes and fitting. Orthopedists have gotten to know us over the years and they trust their patients to us. The rest are serious and casual runners. "It's a good mix. All levels of ability feel at home here. At some stores, if you're not a 36-minute 10K runner, they kind of give you short shrift short shrift n. 1. Summary, careless treatment; scant attention: These annoying memos will get short shrift from the boss. 2. Quick work. 3. a. . "People are training for the (March 2005) L.A. Marathon now. We had a bunch of them today. "I honestly don't think the Olympics help. But in 1984, when it was in L.A., definitely. We did see people walking in from that in '84. And that was at the peak of the running boom. People are a little more circumspect cir·cum·spect adj. Heedful of circumstances and potential consequences; prudent. [Middle English, from Latin circumspectus, past participle of circumspicere, to take heed : now. "I have an archive of customer thank-you letters. No miracles where someone threw away their crutches and walked down the street. But I was in the supermarket and a woman recognized me and said: 'Thank you, you saved my feet.' She was doing the Avon Walk. "I sold shoes for JCPenney in high school. You had to do $800 a day. In those days shoes were $6 a pair. Do the math. Now, shoe prices are all over the map. The core of my business is in the $80-to-$90 range. There's no compelling reason to buy a shoe in the $200 range. There's a ton of shoes in the $80-to-$90 range that are great." |
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