Longtime Lexington running store to open third location near Hamburg this fall
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- John’s Run/Walk Shop to open third and largest store in Hamburg by mid-November.
- New 5,000 square-foot space supports the store’s well-known apparel and shoe inventory.
- Store enhances access to Brighton Rail Trail and community 5K run events.
A staple Lexington shoe store is on track to open its third and largest location later this fall.
John’s Run/Walk Shop is opening a storefront in the Hamburg area in mid-November at 3090 Helmsdale Place in the Brighton Place Shoppes.
Opened in 1978 in Lexington, the store sells running and walking shoes fit to customers by trained staff. The store also sells several types of insoles to support a variety of foot health needs. In tandem with athletic footwear, the stores also sell lifestyle shoes, like boots and sandals, and a variety of socks and other apparel.
The new John’s will take the spot of the former Kid to Kid children’s consignment clothing store in Brighton. The single-story shopping center is also home to a Ramsey’s Diner, Puccini’s Pizza Pasta, Five Guys, Domino’s Pizza, nail salon and barber.
John’s owner Melody Marshall said the store will be the biggest of the brand’s three locations at about 5,000 square feet, slightly larger than a standard, professional basketball court.
The late fall opening is due to Marshall and her staff needing to build out the interior of the store to include a back wall, stock closet, storage space, fitting rooms and appropriate registers that make sense for the layout.
It will have the same merchandise and carry the same apparel as the existing two John’s locations on Ashland Avenue in Chevy Chase and on Palomar Centre Drive.
What makes the new location different, Marshall said, is close proximity to the Brighton Rail Trail, the beginning of which is in the parking lot of the Hamburg Liquor Barn just down the street from where the new John’s will be. John’s already hosts Saturday morning runs on the trail.
Marshall said the goal with the new location is to create new community partnerships with other local businesses to host more runs at a variety of times and locations that attract runners and walkers from across Central Kentucky. That includes adding morning and evening runs on Brighton Rail Trail that start and end at the new John’s.
“We really want to utilize what Lexington has to offer,” Marshall said.
The Hamburg location, Marshall said, is closer to the Interstate 64 and 75 junction at Man o’ War Boulevard, which will help the store serve more customers.
Runners from the region, including as far as Cincinnati, drive to Lexington to participate in John’s second Saturday free, community 5K runs that are just over 3 miles. John’s hosts them already in the Hamburg area.
The John’s is the second running outfitters to open this summer in Lexington. In June, J&H Outdoors — another famed area recreation retailer — opened a storefront exclusively for footwear, running clothing and other gear.
.JPG)