Fleet Feet Sports Annapolis has been named one of The 50 Best Running Stores in America. The award was presented by Competitor Magazine and Formula 4 Media, producers of The Running Event, the largest conference and trade show for running specialty stores in North America. The awards will be presented on Wednesday, November 11th during The Running Event in Austin, and a write-up will appear in the December issue of Competitor Magazine

The selection of The 50 Best stores was part of a year-long selection by Competitor magazine and Formula 4 Media that involved “secret shopper” evaluation of the store, and feedback from the consumers who shop there and the vendors with whom we do business.

Starting in the spring of 2009, Formula 4 Media solicited nominations from consumers, members of the trade and even stores themselves. The nominations were narrowed down to about 120 stores that underwent an intense evaluation process. The evaluation included a mystery shopping rating that evaluated the store on 20 different points. This was done by a secret shopper who spent $100 in the store and rated it on points ranging from staff knowledge and attitude to "does the store offer clean try-on socks" to how simple was the check-out process.

How a store supports its local community is another key factor in determining what stores make the list. The community support is evaluated based on sponsorship of local races, support of charities and essentially what the store does for its local community of runners.

"There are hundreds of great running stores in the country, but we believe this list represents The 50 Best," said Mark Sullivan, president of Formula 4 Media. "Every store on this list should be proud that they earned their way on to the list based on feedback from the toughest, most objective judges out there, their own customers."

We are so proud to be named one of the 50 Best Running Stores in America and we want to thank you, our customers, for making our store what it is.