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Formerly | Bensonshoe |
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Company type | Public limited company |
AIM: SHOE | |
ISIN | GB00BLTVCF91 |
Industry | Footwear |
Founded | 21 July 1917 in Leicester, England |
Founders |
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Headquarters | Leicester, England, UK |
Number of locations | 330 (2023) |
Areas served | |
Key people |
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Revenue | ![]() |
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Owners |
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Number of employees | 2,550 (2023) |
Website | www |
Footnotes /references [1] |
Shoe Zone (stylised as shoezone) is a budget footwear retailer in the United Kingdom. It has over 330 stores in different cities and towns throughout the UK and over 2,500 employees. The company has an annual turnover of £156 million. [2] The company's headquarters are located in Leicester, England. [3] [4]
The company was founded in England in 1917. Brothers Michael and Christopher Smith bought controlling shares in the footwear company, Bensonshoe, in 1980 (which was founded by their grandfather.) [5] By 2000, the company had 184 stores and late that year acquired The Oliver Group plc which added a further 258 stores to its portfolio. [5]
In September 2007, Shoe Zone acquired the shoe retailer Shoefayre for an undisclosed sum from its parent, The Co-operative Group, adding 300 stores to Shoe Zone's portfolio. [5] In January 2009, it bought Leicester-based Stead & Simpson and converted many stores to the Shoe Zone brand.
In 2021, the company made headlines when Peter Foot stepped down as finance director and was replaced by Terry Boot, a humorous double example of aptronyms. [6]
The company suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns which resulted in declining revenue. In 2020, Shoe Zone raised debt for the first time in 15 years with a £15M CLBILS facility from NatWest. [7]
In 2021, Shoe Zone returned a profit of £9.5M and the company announced it was debt free in January 2022. [2]
The company sells approximately 16 million pairs of footwear per year. [8] Shoe Zone also has a charity known as the Shoe Zone Trust which raises money for children's charities. Funds raised by the company have totalled over £2.3 million as of May 2022. [9]
Dr. Martens also known as Doc Martens, Docs, or DMs, is a footwear and clothing brand, headquartered in Wollaston, Northamptonshire. Although famous for its footwear, the company also makes a range of accessories including clothing and bags. The footwear is distinguished by its air-cushioned sole, upper shape, welted construction, and yellow stitching. The Dr. Martens' design studio is in Camden Town, London, England. The company manufactures in the UK, China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Next plc, trading as Next (styled as NEXT) is a British multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of which circa 500 are in the United Kingdom, and circa 200 across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Next is the largest clothing retailer by sales in the United Kingdom, having overtaken Marks & Spencer in early 2012 and 2014. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Party City Holdco Inc, commonly referred to as Party City is an American publicly traded retail chain of party stores founded in 1986 by Steve Mandell in East Hanover, New Jersey. The companies headquarters are in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. The company is the largest retailer of party goods in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The company operates over 850 company-owned and franchise outlets in over 70 countries around the world under the Party City, Halloween City, Toy City, Factory Card and Party Outlet brands.
GUS plc was a FTSE 100 retailing, manufacturing and financial conglomerate based in the United Kingdom. GUS was an abbreviation of Great Universal Stores, the company's name before 2001, while it was also known as the Glorious Gussies amongst stockbrokers. The company started out as Universal Stores, a mail order business created by the Rose family. In 1931, Isaac Wolfson joined the mail order company and would, through a series of takeovers, turn it into a retail, manufacturing and financial conglomerate, becoming Europe's biggest mail order firm and with over 2,700 physical stores. His son, Leonard Wolfson, followed him as chairman, to be succeeded by his nephews David Wolfson (1996–2000) and Victor Barnett (2000–2002). During the 1980s, the business divested much of its physical retail and manufacturing subsidiaries under Leonard Wolfson to concentrate on mail order, property and finance. In October 2006, the company was split into two separate companies: Experian which continues to exist, and Home Retail Group which was bought by Sainsbury's in 2016.
Timberland LLC is an American manufacturer and retailer of outdoor footwear and apparel owned by VF Corporation. The company also sells accessories including watches, eyewear, and leather goods. Timberland's corporate headquarters are located in Stratham, New Hampshire.
Wolverine World Wide, Inc. or Wolverine Worldwide, is a publicly traded American footwear manufacturer based in Rockford, Michigan. The shoemaker is known for its eponymous brand, Wolverine Boots and Shoes, as well as other brands, such as Hush Puppies, Chaco, and Merrell. The company also manufactures licensed footwear for other firms, such as Caterpillar and Harley-Davidson. In 2012, Wolverine World Wide added Saucony, Keds, Stride Rite and Sperry Top-Sider to its list of brands, after acquiring the Performance Lifestyle Group of Collective Brands in a $1.23 billion transaction that also involved the sale of Payless ShoeSource and Collective Licensing International to private equity firms Blum Capital Partners and Golden Gate Capital.
JJB Sports plc was a British sports retailer. On 24 September 2012, shares in JJB Sports were suspended, and the firm called in administrators. On 1 October 2012, it was announced that Sports Direct had purchased part of the business, including 20 stores, the brand, and its website for £28.3 million.
Foot Locker, Inc. is an American multinational sportswear and footwear retailer headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in over 40 countries.
Shoe Carnival Inc. is an American retailer of family footwear. The company operates 429 stores throughout the midwest, south, and southeast regions, and Puerto Rico. It was founded by David Russell in 1978 and is headquartered in Evansville, Indiana.
Famous Footwear is a nationwide chain of retail stores in the United States dealing in branded footwear, generally at prices discounted from manufacturer's suggested prices. The chain is a division of the St. Louis–based Caleres and had more than 1,125 stores in 2010.
Pentland Group is a British privately held global company that owns and invests in, primarily, retail and wholesale businesses in the sports, outdoor and sports fashion sectors.
JD Sports Fashion plc, commonly known as JD Sports, JD or JD Group is a British sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The Pentland Group owns 55% of the company.
Merrell is an American manufacturing company of footwear products. It was founded by Clark Matis, Randy Merrell, and John Schweizer in 1981 as a maker of high-performance hiking boots. Since 1997, the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Wolverine World Wide. Products currently commercialized by Merrell include hiking boots, athletic shoes, sandals, jackets, knit caps, gloves, t-shirts, hoodies, shorts, and socks. Other accessories include backpacks, stuff sacks, and bags.
Rocky Brands, Inc., formerly known as Rocky Shoes & Boots, Inc., is a company which designs, develops, manufactures, and markets outdoor, work, western and military footwear, and other outdoor and work apparel and accessories. The company was founded in 1932 in Nelsonville, Ohio, and still maintains its corporate headquarters there.
Caleres Inc. is an American footwear company that owns and operates a variety of footwear brands. Its headquarters is located in Clayton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Founded in 1878 as Bryan, Brown & Company in St. Louis, it underwent several name changes; for a time, the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company was the largest manufacturer of shoes in America. It went bankrupt in June 1939.
Sears plc was a large British-based conglomerate. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was acquired by Philip Green in 1999.
Pepkor is a South African-based investment and holding company focused on the discount and value consumer retail and fintech markets. The majority of operations are in South Africa, and operations extend to other African countries and Brazil. It manages retail brands, selling predominantly clothing, footwear, and homeware products, in addition to household furniture, appliances, consumer electronics, and building materials.
LaCrosse Footwear, Inc. is an American company based in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1897 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, the footwear company moved to Oregon in 2001 where its Danner Boots subsidiary was based. In 2012, the company, which previously had been publicly traded, was bought by Japanese-based ABC-Mart.
Altra Running, commonly known as Altra, is an American manufacturing company engaged in the design, development, marketing, and sales of athletic shoes for road running, trail running, and general footwear. Since 2018 Altra is owned by VF Corporation, an American global apparel and footwear company with other brands like Icebreaker, The North Face, Vans, JanSport, Eastpak and Timberland.
Accent Group is an Australian and New Zealand footwear and clothing retail, wholesaling and distribution company. It has more than 800 retail stores, along with 19 brands, and more than 20 online platforms.