Karrimor Running Shoes - Great value! Love them

Forget Asics, Brooks etc.....  The Karrimor running shoes are amazing value and the best running shoes I have had!!!  I dont have allot of spare cash but love running, I am into my second pair of Karrimor Paces dual and they are just brilliant for the money, my wife and duaghter have a pair as well with the Pace at £30, brilliant.  I hear the top end shoes D36 I think they need to some work as I found them a little hard when trying on, looked great, may look at those, but £80, will see.  Well done Sports soccer direct!!

Comments

  • MuttleyMuttley ✭✭✭

    So how long have you been employed by Sports Direct then, Dave? And do they sell Spam as well?

  • For balance:

    I tried a couple of pairs of Karrimor running shoes recently.

    Walking around the shop in them was one of the top 5 worst things I've ever done to my feet. This includes walking barefoot in a room containing a broken lightbulb and dropping a pallet of cat litter on one of them.

    I would genuinely rather run in Doc Martens than footwear carrying the Karrimor brand.

    Thanks Dave.

  • They do not cost £30 because they are good. 

  • Strange comments from people?  I work for a electronics company, and love running, thought I would share some thoughts, not sure about Ivor's comments, sounds like some people are bitter out there?  Why, great shoes great value??  Whats wrong with that, 3 of us in this family are satisfied, that's all that matters to me!

  • If it works for you then I couldn't recommend you to do otherwise, but it is always a mistake to think that what works for you will work for other people.  When I worked in a retailer that sold these shoes, the customer feedback that I received was for the most part less favourable than yours. 

  • I went into Sports Direct today to get some running shoes, I am a total beginner and picked up some Nikes off the shelf, went to find an assistant to ask for my size. The guy I eventually found told me straight away not to bother with Nike as they're all name and are rubbish. He said I should get a pair of Karrimor for the same price that are much better......just seen these threads on here and now I'm confused! 

  • Any sales assistant who tells you that Karrimor running shoes are better than Nike, is either inept or dishonest. 

    There is simply no more charitable interpretation that can be drawn. 

  • To be fair- we don't know which Nike shoes we are comparing. Lots of them are just fashion shoes.
  • A branch of Sports Direct would at a minimum carry the Pegasus and the Triax, and their contract with Nike requires their staff to sit an online course about Nike running shoes. 

    Something is not right there. 

  • Never seen the Triax in Sports Direct..... Then again never seen it in the Nike Outlet Store here 

  • Lesson - Don't go to SportsDirect for running shoe advice.  Only buy from there if you are confident that you know what you want.

    Asking SportsDirect for advice on running shoes is like asking Tesco for advice on wine, or Halfords for advice on bikes.  Don't do it - go to an independent retailer who depends on reputation, not share price.

  • DiscountRunner image wrote (see)

    Lesson - Don't go to SportsDirect for running shoe advice.  Only buy from there if you are confident that you know what you want.

    Asking SportsDirect for advice on running shoes is like asking Tesco for advice on wine, or Halfords for advice on bikes.  Don't do it - go to an independent retailer who depends on reputation, not share price.

     

     

    +1

  • I went to the branch near work for a cheap boot bag at lunchtime today, and while in there I eavesdropped in on a number of exchanges by the running shoes.

    Most of it was harmless enough, but as I was about to leave I overheard a guy that was very interested in a pair of Pegasus. Worker lad goes out the back and comes back with no Pegasus but two pairs of "high-end" Karrimor that were roughly the same price, and then proceeds to try and palm them off as being an equivalent shoe.

    Thankfully the consumer respectfully declined their kind offer.

    Disgraceful, really. Wish I'd filmed it.

  • Its quite amusing ,if a little scary, to listen in on some of the "advice" given in SD.

    i`m not sure they like me that much in my local branch because I always know exactly what I want when I get there.

    I`d imagine they make a lot more profit on their own brand shoes so they probably have an incentve to push customers towards those brands.
  • i went into SD today for the 1st time in ages, saw a wall of new running shoes and thought "wow.. awesome they sell salomons now" but no, very clear where they got their design cues from.

  • Yes Karrimor specificaly coppy the Salamon pattern. 

    The one thing they are good at is making cheap shoes look like expensive shoes.   

  • I went to SD looking for a pair of Kinvarra. After listening to a rather chubby kids 'expert' opinion on the virtues of Karrimor above all other brands, I asked him if they stocked any saucony. He looked confused, turned to a fellow assistant and asked him 'What are Saucony Tim? Are they trainers?'

    +1 for independant retailers who can distinguish their arses from their elbows

  • I went in recently and saw a pair of New Balance that I fancied, I was given the hard sell about how Karrimor were the best and I should try them instead of the NB's I was about to buy - in future i'll pay a bit more for a quality knowledgable service and avoid this 'guff' 

  • I was in SD only last week and heard a sales assistant (teenage lad) telling a woman that Karrimor were better than Asics running shoes. I suspect, they (sales staff at SD) are being pressured to shift them

  • Not sure which would be worse Karrimor or Asics..

    I have bought from SD but as others have said only knowing exactly what I want before hand. To be fair I can never find an assistant in my local shop even if I did want one...

  • My tight mate bought some Karrimor running shoes. He went out and did a run in them and his shins hurt afterwards and where they had been badly made the seams cut into his foot.

    Also Im amazed seeing people actually asked for advice on running shoes from a sports direct employee! They probably think a gait is the entrance to a front garden.

  • Oi! Discount runner! I take exception to that. As a feckless youth, I had a weekend job in halfords and I can assure you, that as a keen cyclist, the advice I always gave to my customers was... actually, no, as you were. Carry on.

  • The thing is, some of the Karrimors are not cheap - their top-end shoe is £80.

    I'm yet to hear any testimonials that any of them are good.

    I think there's a very interesting RW feature to be done on the relative merits of Karrimor and More Mile shoes, certainly in terms of bang-for-buck.

  • Whilst I agree with views expressed here on the virtues of taking advice on running shoes from the average SD staff member, I currently run in Karrimor trail shoes...as I cover fairly mileage, the fact that they are at SD prices, relatively cheap counteracts the fact that I wear out shoes at a fair old rate (I suspect the more expensive manufacturers would wear out at about the same rate...).

    Much like buying a bike from Halfords as already noted here, if you can get something at a decent price which will do the job adequately at your level of performance, it seems the sensible thing to do provided you know what you are buying.

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