Slowtwitch/TBI 50 for ’13 announced

The Slowtwitch/TBI 10 and 50, for 2013, were announced this week. This is a list of 50 retailers, and the top 10 among them, who best service triathletes in the United States per a score generated by vendor and consumer voting and rating.

The list is geared toward specialty brick & mortar stores, and is primarily chosen via voting by the vendors who sell to them. These vendors – bike and bike accessory manufacturers, footwear brands, swim and apparel brands, parts distributors – vote for between 40 and 50 stores arrayed on a ballot presenting 375 retailers in 9 geographic regions.

Vendor voting represents 80 percent of the weight if each store’s score, and the remaining 20 percent is generated by consumer ratings, and achievements or investments contributing to a store’s professionalism.

The retail store with the highest score was All3Sports in Atlanta, GA). The top-10 stores are listed below, in order, according to their scores.

All3Sports (Atlanta, GA)
Nytro Multisport (Encinitas, CA)
Speedy Reedy (Seattle, WA)
Gear West Bike and Triathlon (Long Lake, MN)
Trisports.com (Tucson, AZ)
Athletes Lounge (Portland, OR)
Austin Tri Cyclist (Austin, TX)
R&A Cycles (Brooklyn, NY)
Colorado Multisport (Boulder, CO)
Running Away Multisport (Deerfield, IL)

The top-50 stores are as follows, listed alphabetically.

All3Sports (Atlanta, GA)
Arts Cyclery (San Luis Obispo, CA)
Athletes Lounge (Portland, OR)
Austin Tri Cyclist (Austin, TX)
Belmont Wheelworks (Belmont, MA)
Big Shark Bicycle Company (St. Louis, MO)
Bike Doctor (Arnold, MD)
Bonzai Sports (Falls Church, VA)
Brickwell Cycling and Multisports (Great Neck, NY)
Britton's Bike Shop (San Antonio, TX)
Chainwheel (Little Rock, AK)
Colorado Multisport (Boulder, CO)
Contender Bicycles (Salt Lake City UT)
Davis Wheelworks (Davis CA)
Element Multisport Chicago IL)
Endurance House Middleton WI)
Fast Splits (Newton, MA)
Fit Werx 2 (Peabody, MA)
Fleet Feet (Sacramento, CA)
Freshbikes (Arlington, VA)
Gear West Bike and Triathlon (Long Lake, MN)
Get a Grip Cycles (Chicago, IL)
Inside Out Sports (Cary, NC)
Inside Out Sports (Charlotte, NC)
Jack and Adams (Austin, TX)
Mack Cycle (Miami, FL)
Moment Cycle Sport (San Diego, CA)
Naperville Running Co (Naperville, IL)
Northwest Tri and Bike (Kent, WA)
Nytro Multisport (Encinitas, CA)
Paragon Sports (NY, NY)
Play Tri (Dallas, TX)
Podium Multisport (Atlanta, GA)
R&A Cycles (Brooklyn, NY)
Richardson Bike Mart (Richardson, TX)
Running Away Multisport Deerfield, IL
Running Away Multisport (Chicago, IL)
SBR Multisports (NY, NY)
SBR Sports (Orem, UT)
Speedy Reedy Seattle, WA)
Sunrise Tri West (Babylon, NY)
T3 Multisport (Indianapolis, IN)
Tri Shop (Plano, TX)
Tri Town (Boise, ID)
Triathlon Lab (Santa Monica, CA)
Tribe Multisport (Scottsdale, AZ)
TriBella (Denver, CO)
Trisports.com Tucson, AZ)
Urban Tri Gear (Chicago, IL)
Wheat Ridge Cyclery (Wheat Ridge, CO)

This is the list’s second year, and is a collaboration between Slowtwtich.com and Triathlon Business International, the world's leading organization dedicated to promoting the sport and business of triathlon. Founded by a coalition of industry leaders, TBI's mission is to leverage the knowledge, talent, and resources of the leaders in triathlon to the benefit of the sport by increasing and retaining advocates of triathlon and fostering a positive image of the sport.