Asics and Marathon Sports open Boston Run Shop ahead of marathon weekend

Just as marathon weekend reaches its peak, Asics and Marathon Sports have turned 299 Newbury Street into a compact portrait of where performance retail is headed. The new Run Shop is not just about shoes. It folds in apparel, marathon-specific gear, nutrition, insoles, wearables and eyewear, making the runner’s stop feel less like a quick purchase and more like a full-service fitting for race week and beyond.

That breadth matters in a city where the Boston Marathon is as much a civic ritual as a sporting event. The 130th race will take place on Patriots’ Day, Monday, April 20, 2026, and the Boston Athletic Association says more than 30,000 athletes are expected to run. Marathon Sports has set the shop to a race-week schedule, open from April 16 through April 21, a timing that makes the store part of the marathon’s temporary geography, alongside the finish-line energy, the crowds around Copley Square and the long road out from Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

The format also shows how seriously Asics wants to own the entire running ecosystem. The brand says its Boston-based ASICS Creation Center serves as a product innovation engine focused on testing and validating running concepts, a signal that the company sees Boston as more than a sales market. WWD reported last year that ASICS America moved its North American head office to 179 Lincoln Street in the Leather District, reinforcing the label’s investment in the city’s running and sneaker culture.

Marathon Sports brings local credibility to that strategy. Founded in 1975 in a renovated first-floor apartment near Harvard Square, the retailer has grown to 28 locations across New England, a footprint that gives the collaboration a specialty-retail pedigree many global brands try to buy but rarely build. Its longtime Boston store at 671 Boylston Street already serves as a marathon-week hub, with the brand saying tens of thousands of tourists and locals pass through the area each year during the weekend.

The broader message is clear: Boston’s race-week retail is becoming more fashion-conscious, more utility-driven and more omnichannel in spirit, even when the shop floor is physical. On has already opened a new store at 138 Newbury Street just ahead of the marathon, underscoring how crowded and competitive this strip has become. For Asics, the Run Shop is both a tactical opening and a larger claim on the runner’s wardrobe, from the first mile to the last recovery day.