Although established in 1974, and founded as a separate company in 1988, Foot Locker's roots date to 1879, as it is a successor corporation to the F. W. Woolworth Company (“Woolworth's”), which changed its name to Foot Locker in 2001, as many of its freestanding stores were Kinney Shoes and Woolworth's locations.[3] The company operates the eponymous “Foot Locker” chain of athletic footwear retail outlets (along with “Kids Foot Locker” and “Lady Foot Locker” stores), and other athletic-based divisions including Champs Sports, Footaction USA, House of Hoops, and Eastbay/Footlocker.com, which owns the rights to Final-Score. The company is also famous for its employees' uniforms at its flagship Foot Locker chain, resembling those of referees.
According to the company's filings with the SEC, as of January 2017, Foot Locker, Inc. had 3,363 primarily mall-based stores in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Nearly 70% of its products are from Nike.[4]
History
In 1963, the F. W. Woolworth Company purchased the Kinney Shoe Corporation and operated it as a subsidiary. In the 1960s, Kinney branched into specialty shoe stores, including Stylco in 1967, Susie Casuals in 1968, and Foot Locker on September 12, 1974. The first Foot Locker opened in the Puente Hills Mall in City of Industry, California.[5] Woolworth also diversified its portfolio of specialty stores in the 1980s, including Afterthoughts, Northern Reflections, Rx Place, and Champs Sports. By 1989, the company pursued an aggressive strategy of multiple specialty store formats targeted at enclosed shopping malls. The idea was that if a particular concept failed at a given mall, the company could quickly replace it with a different concept. The company aimed for ten stores in each of the country's major shopping malls, but this never came to pass as Woolworth never developed that many successful specialty store formats.
In April 1989, the F.W. Woolworth Company reincorporated as a separate company, known as the Woolworth Corporation in the state of New York. The Woolworth Corporation was responsible for the operations of the Foot Locker stores, among the other specialty chains operated by Woolworth's. One of its first moves was the acquisition of Champs Sports and renaming itself the Woolworth Athletic Group.
During the 1980s and 1990s, the F.W. Woolworth Company's flagship department store chain fell into decline, ultimately culminating in the closure of the last stores operating under the name of Woolworth's in the United States in 1997. Deciding to continue aggressive expansion into the athletic business in the following years, the company acquired Eastbay in 1997, which was the largest athletic catalog retailer in the United States, as well as subsequent purchases of regional storefront retailers Sporting Goods (purchased in 1997) and The Athletic Fitters (purchased in 1998). After 1997, Wal-Mart replaced Woolworth in the Dow Jones average. The Woolworth Corporation remained the parent company of Foot Locker, and in June 1998 it changed its name to "Venator Group, Inc." By the 1990s, Foot Locker was responsible for more than 70 percent of Kinney Shoe Corp. sales, while traditional shoe retailer Kinney was in decline. Venator announced shuttering of the remaining Kinney Shoe and Footquarters stores on September 16, 1998.[citation needed]
As the "Foot Locker" brand had become the Woolworth/Venator company's top performing line, on November 2, 2001, Venator changed its name to Foot Locker, Inc.[6] On November 19, 2004, Foot Locker announced that its quarterly profit rose 19 percent, helped by stronger sales.[7]
In 2004, Foot Locker acquired the Footaction USA brand and approximately 350 stores from Footstar for $350 million (~$541million in 2023).[8] On April 14, 2004, Foot Locker Inc. announced that it agreed to buy about 350 Footaction stores from bankrupt Footstar Inc. for $160 million (~$247million in 2023) to expand in urban areas.[9]
On January 10, 2005, the company announced that Nick Grayston was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer of its Foot Locker U.S. division, succeeding Tim Finn, who retired from the company.[10]
In 2007, Foot Locker joined with schoolPAX[11] to launch the Foot Locker School Rewards Program,[12] designed to provide charitable donations to schools who sign up and shop at Foot Locker with a custom-coded key tag or school code.
Foot Locker purchased CCS, a skateboarding equipment retailer, from Alloy for $103 million in cash.[13]
In 2011, Foot Locker joined DoSomething.Org for the Foot Locker Scholar Athletes program, which honors high school athletes for demonstrating academic excellence and flexing their hearts on their sports teams and in their communities.
On June 26, 2012, Foot Locker celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first stock offering made by its predecessor, the F. W. Woolworth Company, on the New York Stock Exchange by ringing the Closing Bell for the trading day.
In 2013, the company acquired the German retailer Runners Point Group.[14]
After not meeting corporate expectations, Foot Locker planned to close its CCS unit but sold it to Daddies Board Shop in 2014.[13]
Foot Locker has steadily risen in Fortune 500 rank, from 446 in 2011[15] to 363 in 2018.[16] Foot Locker recorded a record turnover of 7.151 million dollars at the end of the fiscal year 2015.[17]
In 2019, Foot Locker invested $100 million (~$118million in 2023) in GOAT, an online resale marketplace for sneakers.[18] In 2021, Foot Locker acquired Los Angeles–based athletic retailer WSS and Tokyo-based Atmos.[19] In 2022, Foot Locker announced it would aim to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.[20]
On February 12, 1999, a federal jury in Austin awarded $341,000 (equivalent to $586,579 in 2023)[24] to a former Foot Locker shoe store manager who said the company systematically discriminated against its African American employees by offering more opportunities for promotions to white managers.[25]
Stores
Americas
United States: 781 (includes US territories)
Puerto Rico: 19
US Virgin Islands: 2
Guam: 1
Canada: 84
Asia-Pacific
Australia: 84
New Zealand: 15
Israel: 74
Saudi Arabia: 16
United Arab Emirates: 10
Kuwait: 10
South Korea: 10
Bahrain: 4
Oman: 3
Qatar: 5
Lebanon: 2
Jordan: 2
Indonesia: 6
Malaysia: 5
Singapore: 7
Hong Kong: 6
Macau: 2
Philippines: 8
Vietnam: 1
Europe
Italy: 179
France: 146
Germany: 83
Spain: 60
United Kingdom: 59
Netherlands: 41
Belgium: 20
Portugal: 16
Czech Republic: 10
Switzerland: 9
Austria: 8
Poland: 8
Ireland: 7
Denmark: 6
Hungary: 6
Luxembourg: 5
Sweden: 5
Norway: 5
Greece: 3
Romania: 3
Closing
in 2023, Footlocker announced plan to close up to 400 low performing stores by 2026.[26]
Related Research Articles
The F. W. Woolworth Company was a retail company and one of the pioneers of the five-and-dime store. It was among the most successful American and international five-and-dime businesses, setting trends and creating the modern retail model that stores follow worldwide today.
Nordstrom, Inc. is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a second Nordstrom's shoe store opened in 1923. The growing Nordstrom Best chain began selling clothing in 1963, and became the Nordstrom full-line retailer that presently exists by 1971. The company founded its off-price Nordstrom Rack division in 1973, and grew both full-line and off-price divisions throughout the United States in the following years. The full-line division competes with department stores including Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue, while the off-price division competes with retailers including the TJX Companies and Ross Stores. Previous expansions beyond the contiguous United States include Puerto Rico (2015–2020) and Canada (2014–2023).
Genesco Inc. is an American publicly owned specialty retailer of branded footwear and accessories and is a wholesaler of branded and licensed footwear based in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded as the Jarman Shoe Company in 1924 as a footwear manufacturer, the company changed its name to the General Shoe Company in 1931 and became a public company in 1939. The company took its current name, Genesco, in 1959. Genesco exited footwear manufacturing in 2002 and now contracts with independent, third parties located outside the United States to manufacture its branded and licensed footwear. In June 2011, Genesco acquired U.K. retail chain and web business Schuh, which gave them an already well-established grounding in a market outside of the U.S.
Cross County Center is an open-air shopping mall located at the junction of the NYS Thruway and Cross County Parkway, in the Kimball neighborhood of Yonkers, New York, United States. The mall is managed by Marx Realty and hosts over 100 stores and restaurants. Anchor stores are Macy's and Target. The mall features prominent specialty retailers such as Armani Exchange, Zara, Michael Kors, Guess, Invicta Watch, and Steve Madden, in addition to Showcase Cinemas.
Del Amo Fashion Center is a three-level regional shopping mall in Torrance, California, United States. It is currently managed and co-owned by Simon Property Group.
Melville Corporation was a large retail holding company incorporated by Ward Melville in 1922 from Melville Shoe Company. Formerly based in Rye, New York, it became CVS Corporation in 1996 under a massive reorganization plan. The company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker MES, before changing its ticker to CVS.
Footstar, Inc., was a shoe retailer that was headquartered in Mahwah, New Jersey. The company was traded under the symbol “FTAR” on the Pink Sheets. In April 2012, Footstar was merged into Xstelos Holdings, Inc.
Westland Mall is a demolished 860,000-square-foot (80,000 m2) shopping center located at the intersection of U.S. Route 40 and Interstate 270 on the west side of Columbus, Ohio. In November 2012, the majority of the mall closed, and the last anchor closed in 2017. A mixed use development is planned, and demolition began around August 2023.
Eastbay was an American supplier of athletic footwear, apparel and sports equipment, selling through direct mail and the internet. In 1997, it became a subsidiary of the F. W. Woolworth Company, later known as Foot Locker, Inc.
The Station Mall, is a shopping mall located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. With 97 stores and 555,000 square feet (51,600 m2) of retail space, it is the second largest shopping mall in Northern Ontario, trailing just behind the New Sudbury Centre in Greater Sudbury in area. Built in 1973, the mall has since undergone two major expansions. Its major tenants include 52,000 square feet (4,800 m2) Galaxy Cinemas movie theatre complex. The mall is located on the waterfront in downtown Sault Ste. Marie, and is roughly five minutes away from the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge to the United States. The Sault Ste. Marie railway station is located in the mall's parking lot.
Thom McAn is an American brand of shoes and was formerly a retail chain. Its shoes have been sold in Kmart and Sears stores. It consists of leather-dress, casual, and athletic shoes. Until the 1990s, Thom McAn had hundreds of retail stores in the US, and was one of the oldest and best-known shoe retailers in the country. As of late 2008, the brand was controlled by Sears Brands, LLC.
Plaza del Norte is a 698,581 sq ft (64,900.3 m2) shopping center located in Hatillo, Puerto Rico currently owned and managed by Curzon Puerto Rico. It is the largest shopping center in northwestern Puerto Rico, with over 130 stores and fast food restaurants.
The Athlete's Foot (TAF) is a global retailer of athletic inspired lifestyle and streetwear — footwear, apparel and accessories. Its global headquarters are located Stans, Switzerland and US headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
Champs Sports is an American sports retail store, it operates as a subsidiary of Foot Locker. Products sold at Champs Sports include apparel, equipment, footwear, and accessories. As of June 2019, there were 540 store locations found throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The stores are mainly located in shopping malls, and are 3,500 square feet (330 m2) on average.
The G.R. Kinney Company was an American manufacturer and retailer of shoes from 1894 until September 16, 1998. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in March 1923, with the symbol KNN. The shoe concern was started by George Romanta Kinney whose father ran a general store in rural Candor, New York. The father became indebted and George vowed to repay his debts. In 1894, at the age of 28, he had saved enough to purchase a Lester retail outlet in Waverly, New York. Lester Shoe of Binghamton, New York was the predecessor to the Endicott Johnson Corporation. Kinney succeeded by selling affordably priced shoes to working Americans.
Meriden Mall is a shopping mall located in Meriden, Connecticut. With nearly 900,000 square feet, Meriden Mall is Connecticut's seventh largest mall, housing over 140 shops. The mall features Boscov's and TJ Maxx as anchors alongside specialty retailers such as Bath and Body Works, Foot Locker, and Torrid.
Plaza Rio Hondo is a shopping mall in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. It opened in 1982 and is anchored by Marshalls Megastore, Caribbean Cinemas, TJ Maxx, Best Buy, Golden Corral, Pueblo Supermarkets, Chili's Grill & Bar, Walgreens, and PetSmart.
E. P. Charlton & Company, also known as E. P. Charlton Company, E. P. Charlton, or simply Charlton's was an American chain of five and ten cent stores owned by Earle Perry Charlton, which merged with several associated brands to create the F. W. Woolworth Company in 1912.
Journeys is a specialty chain retailer, owned by Genesco, of branded fashion footwear and accessories with approximately 1,200 stores nationwide. Journeys operates five retail concepts across North America including Journeys, Journeys Kidz, Shi by Journeys, Underground by Journeys and Little Burgundy. Journeys is focused on "quickly shifting fashion footwear trends.", and is described as the anti-Foot Locker.
Afterthoughts was a chain of accessory and jewelry stores in the United States, from the 1980s to 2002.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
US$8.15 billion (2023) [1] 
