OUR STORY

OUR PROMISE

GIVING BACK

OUR STORES

ABOUT OUR STAFF

Our Story

To say Gazelle Sports sells high quality running, soccer and athletic lifestyle apparel and footwear would certainly be true, but that hardly tells the whole story. Each and every day, we strive to provide the best customer care, building relationships and empowering and inspiring others to move. Our mission is to foster and support an active community in every place we call home, giving back more than we take. This was true when we opened our first store in downtown Kalamazoo back in 1985, and it’s still true today with our five stores across Michigan.

At the start of it, there were just two guys who were working at a local Kalamazoo running specialty store. The year was 1983. The hair was big, the apparel colors garishly bright and the shorts were super short (for the men anyway). Chris Lampen-Crowell and Bruce Johnson were having a ball – two young guys hanging with like-minded people, selling running gear and, mostly unbeknownst to them, learning the importance of exceptional customer care and relationship-building.

Read the full story here >>

OUR PROMISE


We want you to be 100% satisfied with every purchase, every time. Get out there and give it a try. Take 30 days to run, sweat, play and asana. If it’s not making moving better and easier, don’t hesitate to contact us.


We want you to get out there and move! We also know that a support system makes that easier, so we offer free group runs within your community. We also have free clinics to help with anything from running gait to injuries.


Our expert staff is hands-down going to be the reason you shop with us. The level of training and commitment to care that we instill in our staff can’t be matched anywhere. Period. Let us prove to you that Gazelle Sports is worth the visit.


We were born and raised in Michigan. And we’re still locally owned and operated, the same way we’ve been for the past 30 years. Our commitment to retail excellence is only matched by our commitment to bettering the communities we call home.

GIVING BACK

We believe in giving back to the Communities that we call home.

While we sponsor several local events that are put on by great organizations near each of five stores, we have six Signature Events that bring the best of the Gazelle Sports experience out into the community. Not only does each event benefit a charity partner, but they all give back to the Gazelle Sports Foundation so we can continue to support those who are working to overcome barriers to integrating movement into their lives.

2018 “Owned” Events by the Numbers

$145,500 – the amount donated to our charity partners in 2018.

6,736 – the number of people who participated in our Signature Events. 

2,000 – the number of hours Gazelle Sports staff put into making these events possible

 

Gazelle Sports Foundation

Two percent of Gazelle Sports’ profits are donated to the Gazelle Sports Foundation each year. The Foundation’s mission is to assist Michigan in becoming one of the nation’s healthiest states.

Girls on the Run

Gazelle Sports has partnered with Girls on the Run for over 15 years. Together, we inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, expierence-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.

In 2017 alone…

5,777 girls were expertly fit by Gazelle Sports staff for running shoes from Asics.

Over 1,000 hours of volunteer support donated by our staff.

OUR STORES

Gazelle Sports Birmingham

Gazelle Sports Grand Rapids

Gazelle Sports Holland

Gazelle Sports Kalamazoo

Gazelle Sports Northville

ABOUT OUR STAFF

Our goal is to provide the world’s best customer care. That focus starts and ends with staff training.

Almost daily, we hear the question “Who’s really good with shoes?” My favorite answer? “All of us!”

Learning is one of our core values at Gazelle Sports, and we take staff training and education very seriously. Every new addition to our team begins their journey with what we call the New Hire Marathon – roughly 4-6 weeks of teaching, training and shadowing others. However, the learning doesn’t stop there (or ever for that matter). We continue to develop our knowledge through daily team huddles, sessions with vendors and staff meetings throughout the year.

We are a relationship-based business offering solutions through positive experience. As long as we continue on this road, we feel we can make a difference and be relevant to our customers and our communities. We continually strive to provide the world’s best customer care.

A large part of this goal revolves around having a team well equipped with both the knowledge and experience to be able to answer any questions coming our way, as well as knowing which questions we need to ask you.

Time for a new pair of footwear to embark on or to continue along your path of movement? Come on in and give us a chance to show you who’s really good with shoes.