Endurance House featured as one of “Triathlon’s Visionaries” on Triathlete.com

March 31st, 2017 - Endurance House franchise founders Tara and Jamie Osborn were recently featured in Triathlete.com's article "Triathlon Visionaries." The article features some of the sports top innovators, designers and influential people over the past 30 years. Below is an excerpt of the article which highlights the role of the Osborn's in the sport of triathlon.

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The Entrepreneurs

Names: Jamie (47) and Tara (43) Osborn, founders of Endurance House Location: Madison, Wis. Bragging rights: Creating the first successful tri shop franchise model. Husband-and-wife team Jamie and Tara Osborn founded the first Endurance House—a specialty triathlon and running/walking retail store—in 2007. While the concept of a triathlon retailer wasn’t necessarily a novel idea, their approach to expansion was: In 2011, the Osborns licensed the Endurance House brand to their first franchisee. A year later, they decided to focus entirely on building the franchise model and sold their original shop in Middleton, Wis. Now Endurance House has 16 stores open in nine states—all of which are locally owned, not corporately controlled. “I like to think of Endurance House as a sandbox,” says Jamie. “We create the walls of the sandbox, and within those walls, our owners can build their castle and be creative.” The Osborns’ experience with vendors, real estate, staffing, etc. may be the common structure that helps get any business started, but their unique shop model is something that few have perfected. “[Owners] basically create their own club or team. All of the kinds of things a club would do are provided within Endurance House’s walls,” says Jamie. Each Endurance House focuses on recreational triathletes and hosts local runs, workshops, monthly social events and even complete training programs and coaching for team members. Instead of partnering with a local club that offers discounts—like many shops do—Endurance House does it all under one roof. What’s next: Like all entrepreneurs, the Osborns are looking ahead. They’ve been developing a unique e-commerce platform that will allow online shoppers to purchase products from a centralized website but with local fulfillment. “The website’s intention is to support our franchise stores,” says Jamie. “At some point along the purchasing process, the consumer decides where the product ships from.” This way many customers will still be able to “shop local” with the convenience of being at home. Read the full article here: http://www.triathlete.com/2017/03/lifestyle/triathlons-visionaries_300269#1618zWzxMu1FJi0W.99