Ridgewood's Racefaster Making The Most Of Business Slowdown

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — Aidan Walsh is used to going fast. So when the former Fairleigh Dickinson track standout's Racefaster stores closed due to the coronavirus, he found a new way to race.

“Last week a woman placed an order, it was on her doorstep nine minutes later,” said Walsh.

Racefaster, a New Jersey-based apparel and footwear brand for runners, has four concept stores, including the flagship location in Ridgewood, where, prior to the virus, they did nearly all of their business.

As the coronavirus pandemic caused extended shutdown orders from the state, affecting how non-essential retail stores could operate, Walsh and his wife Lindsay Finkel-Walsh needed to make quick adjustments to buoy the business.

A particularly tech-savvy employee was able to create a retail website, and Racefaster, a brick and mortar first business, shifted to a 100 percent online model within two weeks.

All things considered, things have been going pretty well, said Walsh.

"We've been pleasantly surprised with just how supportive the community has been," he said. "It's been kind of shocking to be honest, in a good way."

In addition to the apparel and footwear line, Runfaster also has a running services feature of the business, something they use to put on kids programs and annual races. With that comes a built-in community of people who gravitate to the business, whether that be through the running programs or retail experiences.

Walsh says he believes that has helped during this time, particularly with a certain type of social media driven word-of-mouth marketing, but has noticed news names popping up on orders as well.

He estimates that, of the current online customer base, most are driven to purchase their product instead of a more national company because of the current "support local" attitude many have taken on since the start of the pandemic.

"We live in these communities," said Walsh. "These people they know us. They walk in on a first name basis, they know our personal lives, and we know theirs."

Even with an increased consumer commitment to local brands, Walsh says things will never be the same, and he doesn't think he's alone in that.

"I think all businesses are forever changed," said Walsh. "There's no going back."

Walsh doesn't think that has to be a negative though, especially for his business.

He thinks about it as pressing the fast-forward button. For Racefaster, he projects the business model could shift from 99 percent retail based pre-coronavirus to 50 percent retail, 50 percent online post-coronavirus.

That shift was coming, he said. The coronavirus made it happen faster.

"The businesses that survive and how they conduct business is different only in the sense that the curve or development has been accelerated," said Walsh.

It's a bootstrapping, success-by-sheer-will mentality. Walsh believes the virus has forced the business to make progress in areas they were "dragging their heels", make cuts in areas that needed them and implement a delivery program that's "better than Amazon."

But it could also be a shift back to a more local, intimate consumer market.

"You call us up and say 'hey, I need a pair of shoes' and you get a pair of shoes and a handwritten note from the owner of the company within hours," said Walsh, adding that the company may continue practices like this once things return to "normal."

The state could be approaching whatever that normalcy may look like.

Gov. Phil Murphy announced a series of "hard dates" for reopenings this week, including non-essential retail stores.

According to Walsh, Racefaster plans to make curbside pickup available at the Ridgewood store, but is less certain a return to normal is imminent.

"It's encouraging to see things beginning to reopen, but we know it's going to be a long time before things are back to normal," said Walsh.

In the meantime, Racefaster brick and mortar stores, long the backbone of the company, can again bring the company back face-to-face with the runners of Ridgewood. Handwritten letters and all.