By Antonio R. Harvey | OBSERVER STAFF WRITER

Besides selling athletic shoes and apparel, The Athlete’s Foot in Elk Grove gives athletes and customers many other reasons to shop in its retail store.

Marcia Mickle, co-owner of The Athlete’s Foot store in Elk Grove, can offer a sport fanatic a lot of options. And for a 20 percent discount, Mickle and her staff can service an entire athletic team in any sport.

Located at 9630 Bruceville Road (next to Kohl’s in the Elk Grove Commons), The Athlete’s Foot features a variety of technological and design innovations, valuable information to help buyers choose the ideal shoe for their feet and financial benefits to help schools, athletic clubs and sports organizations field the best quality in footwear and clothing.

“We have fashion shoes, technical shoes and everyday shoes,” said Marcia A. Mickle, who co-owns the facility with her husband Fred. “It’s really a good cross-section and there’s something for everybody.”

And for everyone’s pleasure, the store’s inventory includes the best names in athletic shoes, including Nike, New Balance, Saucony, Reebok, K-Swiss and Asics.

“We are a shoe store that sells sports shoes for running, basketball and cross training,” Mickle said. “And, since we carry infant size 5 to 15 in adults, we have women’s, men’s and kids’ shoes.”

The Athlete’s Foot also has a state-of-the-art instrument that makes sure customers walk out the store in shoes that they are comfortable with and make them happy. The unique system, FitPrint, identifies pressure points through sequences of a person’s gait.

“We have a computerized system that analyzes a person’s foot type and gait, or the way they move through a walking motion,” Mickle said.

“Our employees are able to use it to help make sure that people get in the right shoes. Not all shoes are made for everyone so (the FitPrint system) is a great tool. It’s technical equipment we use every day.”

Another great tool The Athlete’s Foot features helps with athletic organizations’ pocket books. Baseball, basketball, and track and field teams, on any level, can get fitted at a reduced rate.

“We work with team sports,” Mickle said. “We give 20 percent discounts off shoes for any team that wants to order shoes together. The parents are going to spend money for the shoes anyway so they might as well get a discount on them.”

As far as marketing and promotion, the Mickles have found a sure-fire way to stay connected to the community by participating in local events.

“We do a lot of community events,” Mickle said. “So if there’s a walk or run in our area we usually have a booth out there while we offer our support. We sponsor little league baseball teams … all kinds of things in the community.”

Among all of the services The Athlete’s Foot provides, its location at the corner of Elk Grove Boulevard and Bruceville Road make it attractive to run a business.

“Elk Grove is so huge,” Mickle said. “We are growing so fast and the largest growing segment of the population is people under the age of 19. And at the time when we started our store there were no other sports shoes locations. The center that we are in is very well run. We have a Trader Joe’s, Kohl’s … there is a good mix of stores that appeal to all different ages. So the walk-thru traffic has been tremendous.”

Potential customers may also want to know that The Athlete’s Foot will add Michael Jordan’s Air Jordan line of clothing and apparel in the near future.

“Things are really going well for us,” Mickle said. “It’s very exciting. We are growing each month.”

For more information, call The Athlete’s Foot at (916) 686-3668 or (916) 686-7995 or visit www.elkgroveafoot.com.