Sayville Running Company returns to Main Street

Almost two years after a fire tore through its Main Street storefront in Sayville, the Sayville Running Company reopened its original location this week to excitement from the greater Sayville community.

The Sayville Running Company opened at 19 Main Street in Sayville on Aug. 15, after operating out of a warehouse on Overton Street following the October 2024 Main Street fire. Throughout the day, family, friends, and longtime customers stopped by to check out the new location and purchase merchandise.

About 30 people from the community helped the Sayville Running Company move back into its Main Street location over two days before reopening, an effort the store’s co-owner, Brendan Barrett, who runs the store with Michael Nolan, said was much appreciated.

“It was a hustle, but it’s been really good,” Barrett said about the reopening process. “By [Friday] afternoon, we were able to make sales… it was good to do some test runs and everything sort of worked.”

Community members who stopped by to help during the move-in process included Eileen Tyznar, administrator and past president of the Greater Sayville Chamber of Commerce, who provided lunch to the Running Company team courtesy of the chamber, and funds it raised for business relief after the fire. Food the chamber provided came from Sal's Pizzeria and The Greenery.

“The Sayville Chamber is so excited to welcome home one of the first of our great businesses, Sayville Running Company, to Main Street again after the fire!” Tyznar said. “The void of not having their colorful store and the ‘foot’ traffic that the SRC always brings was felt for sure.”

The new storefront is “mostly the same” as the original, with updated features, including a slatwall that had to be replaced, a new roof, and an accessible bathroom.

Fresh coats of paint bring a refreshing feeling when entering the store, with clothing apparel, some of which hangs on racks salvaged from the 2024 fire, on the right side, and running shoes and other clothing items located along the left-side wall.

Other displays and merchandise came from the Sayville Running Company’s temporary location at 35 Overton Street, where they set up shop soon after the fire. While business and foot traffic had slowed down at that site, Barrett told The Suffolk County News last fall that the company had been able to handle the financial losses.

Customers visiting the Main Street location during its reopening weekend were eager to come out and support a Main Street “staple.”

“It feels right with them back here,” said customer Michael Bauer of Holtsville, who has been shopping at the Sayville Running Company for around eight years. “I keep getting shoes from them, get all my fuels for marathon training, whatever I need. I always go to Brendan for every piece of shoe advice.”

Since 2006, the Sayville Running Company has sold an array of men’s, women’s, and children’s footwear and athletic apparel, along with store-branded merchandise, and provides time-keeping services for location races, some of which the store organizes as well.

For over a year, the Main Street buildings destroyed and damaged by the October 2024 fire sat vacant, until the building formerly housing Boris’ Barbershop, Cafe Joelle, and Paper Doll Vintage Boutique was demolished in January 2026. Since then, repairs have continued at the building that once housed the Sayville Running Company and Hammer & Stain.

Since the fire, DIY studio Hammer & Stain has operated partially from the back of its Main Street location and opened a studio at Station Yards in Ronkonkoma. Store co-owner Sandra Bernius said their side of the Main Street building needed additional structural repairs, but that they hope to fully reopen next month.

“Already the end of Main Street is bustling again with our fitness gurus and all of us who just need a great new pair of kicks!” Tyznar said. “We really are starting to feel that Main Street is coming back to its beauty again!”