After 32 years in Whitefish, Runner Up Sports was searching for a new home. The building where the gear and consignment shop had operated since 1993 was sold, and although the new owners gave Runner Up Sports a good deal to stay in the space for a few more years, owner Chad Colby knew it wouldn’t last forever. After exploring options around Whitefish, Colby set his sights a little further east and found a new building — and a new town — for the popular gear shop. On Aug. 1, Runner Up Sports opened at its new location at 536 First Avenue West in Columbia Falls. So far, Columbia Falls has been a perfect fit, Colby said.
“Columbia Falls has welcomed us with open arms,” he said on a warm August morning recently, watching his 2-year-old dog, Rain, search for a sunny spot on the sidewalk to take a nap. “It’s been awesome.”
Runner Up Sports was founded by Dave Farr and was located on Whitefish’s First Street for years, near the Great Northern Bar and Grill and Jersey Boys Pizzeria. While Colby buys and sells new and used gear, the main focus has long been on consignment. Locals drop off their old, clean, and undamaged gear, and Colby displays it for sale. When it sells, the previous owner receives 70 percent of the sale price, and Runner Up Sports takes 30 percent (it changes to 80-20 for items over $200). Colby proudly proclaims that Runner Up Sports offers the best rates in the business: “No one is even close,” he said.
Colby said that in the early 2000s, consignment made up about 30 to 40 percent of the store’s transactions. However, after the Great Recession in 2008, that flipped, and it has stayed that way ever since. While those selling gear can receive a check after a sale, they can also opt for store credit and get new (to them) gear. Colby encourages that. The store also offers ski waxes and other gear maintenance services. That’s how Colby first got involved with the store. In the late 1990s, he started waxing skis at Runner Up Sports, and when Dave Farr wanted to move on, Colby bought the business from him in 2003. He has owned it ever since.
One of the things Colby appreciated about the store was the tight-knit community it fostered. Those selling gear through the shop are almost always local (Runner Up Sports doesn’t mail checks, so people usually pop in to pick them up).
After 20 years of owning and operating the business, things were going smoothly for Colby. While services like Facebook Marketplace began to compete with the shop, Colby said there are still plenty of people wanting to work directly with Runner Up Sports. He added that Facebook Marketplace isn’t much different from Craigslist, eBay, and classified ads that came before it, and the shop always beat those because it offered better service, better rates, and you don’t have to meet anyone in a dark parking lot to make a deal. But that smooth sailing was interrupted when the owner of the building the shop was in sold. Colby initially looked around Whitefish, but soon realized that the rent at other local spots would be too high. So, he decided to buy a storefront in Columbia Falls at the old Odd Fellows building. Founded nearly three centuries ago, the Odd Fellows is an international fellowship dedicated to community service with chapters all over the world, including in Columbia Falls at one time. Colby said the focus on community made the old building, constructed in 1917, a good fit for the business. He said that Columbia Falls, which has kept much of its “small town” vibe, was also a good fit.
“It really just lines up with our ethos,” he said.
Earlier this year, Colby enlisted several of his contractor friends, including plumbers, painters, and builders, to start transforming the empty storefront into a store. Because margins are tight for a small business, and those who have their items on consignment at the store expect their stuff to be available, Colby didn’t have the option of simply shutting down the Whitefish location and taking his time opening the Columbia Falls store. That meant many long 18-hour days, plus a lot of help from his friends. On July 31, Runner Up Sports closed its shop in Whitefish. The next morning, it opened in Columbia Falls.
“We were still painting in here while we were bringing in product,” he said.
While the store is open (Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), there’s still plenty of work that needs to be done, Colby said. Chief among them is building ski and boot display racks and finding a better place to display bikes. Still, slowly but surely, he’s getting the job done. And slowly but surely, Runner Up Sports is putting down roots in Columbia Falls. For more information, visit therunnerupsports.com.