FootWorks

ON MAY 14, 1973, SHELDON BOEHM, a Danish yoga instructor, got the rights to open an earth shoe store franchise in south Florida. When earth went out of business in 1976, Boehm alongside his daughter and son-in-law, Laurie and Hans Huseby, quickly re-imagined their upstart retail shop as a run specialty store called FootWorks.

Here in 2023, FootWorks lives on in the same location under the direction of the 72-year-old Laurie Huseby, who continues working the floor three or four days each week.

“I love coming to work and fitting people and being at the training programs on the weekends,” Huseby says. “It’s satisfying when you can be a part of people’s health journey and watch them transform into a happier, healthier person.”

FootWorks’ early footwear inventory consisted of Pony, Etonic and Brooks, while Hans, a sub-3 marathoner, also re-soled shoes. He purchased sheets of Vibram outsole rubber from New Balance before cutting, gluing and repairing footwear in the back of the store.

“That allowed a runner to get another couple hundred miles on their shoes,” Huseby says of the now-extinct practice.

In 1977, Laurie and Hans Huseby helped launch the Miami Runners Club. Two years later, the couple began putting on races around South Florida. The store, the club and races brought attention to a sport clamoring for mainstream attention.

“The definition of a runner was only beginning to evolve from the serious competitor to the recreational athletes all about completing the distance,” Huseby says.

And FootWorks helped drive that shift. The store introduced Jeff Galloway’s run-walk training programs and put on a corporate 5K race that attracted 20,000 participants. As running participation grew, so, too, did FootWorks’ store footprint to 2000-square feet.

“The continued growth and success of our business came from events complementing our retail business,” Huseby says.

Today, FootWorks applies much the same formula with a new Huseby, Laurie, and Hans’ middle son, JP, managing the store and helping to oversee races. Team FootWorks, the store’s non-profit arm, hosts about eight races each year while its training programs prepare about 300 people annually for 5K, half marathon and marathon distance races.

This September, the store plans to celebrate its 50th anniversary following the final race in its Twilight Trilogy series of 5K evening races.

“It’s been a fun ride here and it’s wonderful to think about all the people who have been a part of our journey,” Huseby says.