By Sammy Joseph

Jesse Holland steps out in front of his and his wife’s new running store in Hyattsville, Maryland, Haraka Run and Walk. Even though the store does not open until late December, Holland invites visitors in for early previews and exuberant tours of what he hopes will become a community hub for runners in Prince George’s County and the College Park area. 

“Come look at what we’ve got inside,” Holland often says to passersby, his voice echoing off the newly painted walls with polished pegboards waiting to be filled with shoes.

By day, Holland tells his journalism students at George Washington University not to be shy, to be reporters; they need to be able to talk to people. In the afternoons, the longtime educator practices what he preaches. 

Holland spends his time chatting with those who come to his store or sign up for his weekly community walks. These community walks can draw up to 40 or 50 people, even during rain or snow. 

The weekly Wednesday walks take place along the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail, bringing neighbors together without asking them to buy a thing. The walks are paused for winter but are expected to return in the spring.

The new store owner is often seen sitting in front of the store before the walks, flagging people down and striking up conversations with complete strangers, according to Austin Brown, assistant general manager of Hakara Run and Walk. 

“He’s got a little bit of salesman in him, the way it just seems really natural for him to just strike up conversations with people passing by,” Brown said. “He’s the type of person who can have a conversation with just about anybody from any walk of life… He’s just pretty easy to talk to.”

Holland didn’t always imagine himself standing on a sidewalk in Hyattsville, waving people into a running store. The idea formed from years of small frustrations and disbelief that the second-largest county in Maryland didn’t have its own running store. Holland recalled long drives to stores in Alexandria or Baltimore, just to replace a pair of shoes, and his kids going through the same thing during their high school running careers.

“Right now, we are the only running specialty store in Prince George’s County,” Holland said. “As far as we can tell, we are the first.”

Holland and his wife, Carol Holland, would talk about it on the way home from races or over a cup of coffee at Starbucks. They asked themselves, “If Prince George’s County had the runners, running clubs, and the high school programs, why didn’t it have a store?” 

For Carol Holland, a Prince George’s County native, the issue was even harder to ignore. She was an elite runner at Eleanor Roosevelt High School and later at the U.S. Naval Academy. Holland constantly had to navigate limited running resources, along with her kids, who also ran track and cross country in high school. Seeing these struggles firsthand convinced Holland that Prince George’s County didn’t lack a demand for running products; it just lacked the infrastructure to support it. 

Making this vision a reality required more than enthusiasm for running. The store only became possible after the Hollands received the inaugural Run the Block Grant from the Running Industry Diversity Coalition, a roughly $200,000 award designed to support ownership among people of color and other underrepresented groups in the running industry.

The store’s name, Haraka Run and Walk, reflects that idea. Haraka is the Swahili word for speed or quickness. Holland said that the name also honors his and his wife’s identity as African American business owners and their heritage. 

Jesse Holland often jokes about his learning curve with running, calling himself the “baby runner” in his family. Holland grew up in Mississippi, where much of his childhood was spent outside under the hot southern sun.

“The walking and running that I do is more about getting outside, commuting with nature, and getting the sunshine that I remember from when I was a child,” Holland said. 

He played basketball in high school and tennis in college. He later took up running, mostly because of his wife. However, this does not detract from his ability to run the store; rather, Brown believes it makes him more relatable to customers. 

“I feel like Jesse represents the vast majority of our customer base,” Brown said. “People who are either intimidated by running or are newer,… not necessarily trying to go out and run 5Ks or marathons every weekend.”

Throughout the process, Holland’s confidence in himself and his vision never wavered, despite having to navigate multiple permitting issues, which delayed the store’s initial opening. Holland recalled various runners stopping him at trails and at events to ask when the store would finally open. 

One runner wore a hole in her shoe while waiting, in hopes of buying a new one at the store. 

“I finally told her, ‘Please don’t hurt yourself waiting for us,’” Holland said.

Cheryl Fountain, owner of nearby business Frame Savvy, said she knows what it is like to start a business and often sees Holland’s hard work firsthand.

“It takes a lot of hard work, and I see Jesse early in the morning until late at night, and that’s what’s needed in order to start your business,” Fountain said. “You don’t wake up one day and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to build a Nike.’”

Inside Haraka Run and Walk, one corner breaks the pattern of shoes and running accessories, which Holland calls the “media center.” It’s filled with chairs, a projector, and, soon to be added, shelves of running books.

Though unusual for a running store, it’s an idea Holland developed during the design process. Customers can watch presentations, buy training books, or simply sit and talk. It’s a reflection of Holland’s life, where his background as a journalist collides with his life as a runner.

“Telling stories builds bridges. We’re telling a story about health and being your own hero,” Carol Holland said. “We’re just here to outfit that superhero for the mission of their day.”

When the doors finally open, Holland hopes the store’s legacy will be bigger than a single storefront, a model for bringing specialized running retail to communities that have long been overlooked.

“We’re not trying to take anybody’s slice of the pie,” he said. “We’re trying to make the pie bigger.”

Featured Image: The front of Haraka Run and Walk in Hyattsville, Maryland. Photo courtesy of Jesse Holland.