Foot Locker history
Foot Locker company history timeline
Foot Locker is the name of the American footwear retailers which was established in 1974 and today has more than 3 thousand stores not only across North America but worldwide.
The first Foot Locker store opened in City of Industry, California, in 1974.
Also in 1978, Harris became president and Gibbons became chief executive officer.
In 1978, consolidated annual sales topped $6 billion, of which Kinney, growing at a rate of 18 to 20 percent a year, contributed $800 million.
In 1979, Woolworth opened the first J. Brannam, a men's clothing store whose name stood for "just brand names." J. Brannam was a quick moneymaker and often stood within or beside otherwise lackluster Woolco department stores.
After the stores lost $19 million in 1981, Harris and Gibbons hired Bruce G. Albright to revive the ailing chain.
After Woolco lost $21 million during the first six months of 1982, Gibbons decided to shut down all 336 Woolcos in the United States, shrinking the $7.2 billion company 30 percent and laying off 25,000 employees.
Lynn retired in 1987, and the board named Harold Sells as the new chief executive officer.
The redesign of 1988 brought a graphical emblem to the Foot Locker logo, and it made it iconic.
In 1988, the F.W. Woolworth Company incorporated a separate company called the Woolworth Corporation in the state of New York.
Foot Locker was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in New York, NY.“
By 1989, the company was pursuing an aggressive strategy of multiple specialty store formats targeted at enclosed shopping malls.
As a result of these moves, the company recorded a $558 million charge resulting in a net 1993 loss of $495 million.
In 1993, Sells retired and was replaced as by CFO William Lavin, who quickly made moves toward the elimination of the company's general merchandise stores in favor of an exclusive focus on specialty formats.
1993: Woolco's operations are sold to Wal-Mart.
emert, carol. "shoes get protest role versus guns." footwear news, 3 october 1994. available at http://sbweb2.med.iacnet.com/infotrac/session/813/783/9861446/130/ismap4/13/13?8 2,21.
Later in 1994, Lavin was forced out, and Roger Farah became chairman and CEO in December 1994.
The march was an effort to influence Congress to support two bills that were to be introduced in 1995 that would increase gun licensing and registration requirements for owners as well as dealers.
Consequently, Farah's first task was to improve cash flow in 1995.
To better monitor and plan sales, point-of-sale equipment was installed at all locations in 1995, and purchasing, pricing policies, and promotional strategies were all centralized.
malone, scott. "kids foot locker joins forces with toys r' us." footwear news, 25 november 1996. available at http://sbweb2.med.iacnet.com/infotrac/session/813/783/9861446/94!xrn_1&bkm_94.
Together, these stores make the Athletic Group the largest retailer in terms of stores and sales of athletic footwear in the world, owning approximately 45 percent of the United States athletic footwear market in 1996.
For example, Nike, Inc. supplied approximately 25 percent of the company's merchandise purchases in 1996.
In 1996, Woolworth continued to restructure.
In 1996, the chain began testing new formats featuring higher-quality (and higher-priced) merchandise, with more brand names.
The chain experienced a $24 million operating loss for the first quarter as compared to a loss of $37 million for all of 1996.
Now with profitability up 260 percent, the company's capital expenditures for 1997 were targeted at $285 million, primarily in the Athletic Group.
Management will continue to look to explore other potential acquisitions in 1997 and beyond.
1997: Woolworth's closes the last of its five-and-dime stores in the United States.
"Woolworth Posts US$100m Profit, Plans 400 New Stores." Financial Post Daily, 8 March 1998.
By 1998 the soft market for athletic footwear and increased competition were beginning to take their toll on Foot Locker.
The company said it would be spending $154 million in 1998 to open approximately 275 new stores and remodel approximately 375 existing stores.
At the same time, however, just about all of Foot Locker's competitors were planning to expand in 1998 in spite of the fact that the athletic footwear and apparel industry was enduring a slowdown that had already affected the retailers and manufacturers.
The German stores were sold off in 1998.
On February 12, 1999, a federal jury in Austin awarded $341,000 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.
Foot Locker plans to open a 40,000-square-foot store in Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, in early 1999.
The cutbacks continued into January 2000 when Venator announced the closing of 123 Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, and Kids Foot Locker stores, 27 Champs Sports units, and 208 Northern Group stores.
By spring 2000, shoe sales throughout the industry were showing signs of rebounding.
President Roger Farah resigned in 2000 to take over the top slot at Polo Ralph Lauren.
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.
The newly refocused company began to expand beyond its traditional mall-focused retail model early in 2002, introducing stores in areas outside malls near movie theaters, restaurants, gaming outlets, and other areas that attracted a younger clientele.
During the 2002 Christmas season, Foot Locker squabbled with Nike, one of its major brands, over the restrictions Nike was placing on sales outlets that carried its products.
In mid-April 2004 Foot Locker significantly increased its market share in the rival Footaction retail chain from the bankrupt retailer Footstar Inc.. Within a few weeks, however, Finish Line countered with a larger bid for about half of Footaction's stores.
On November 19, 2004, Foot Locker announced that its quarterly profit rose 19 percent, helped by stronger sales.
In 2004, Foot Locker acquired the Footaction USA brand and approximately 350 stores from Footstar for $350 million.
On January 10, 2005, the company announced that Nick Grayston was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer of its Foot Locker United States division, succeeding Tim Finn who retired from the company.
In 2007, Foot Locker joined with schoolPAX to launch the Foot Locker School Rewards Program, designed to provide charitable donations to schools who sign up and shop at Foot Locker with a custom-coded keytag or school code.
In 2011, Foot Locker joined DoSomething.Org for the Foot Locker Scholar Athletes program, which honors high school athletes for demonstrating academic excellence as well as flexing their hearts on their sports team and in their communities.
On June 26, 2012, Foot Locker celebrated their 100th anniversary of trading 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.
After not meeting corporate expectations, Foot Locker planned to close its CCS unit but instead sold it to Daddies Board Shop in 2014.
In 2019, Foot Locker invested GOAT, an online resale marketplace for sneakers.
The company decides to redesign its logo again in 2020.
In 2021, Foot Locker acquired Los Angeles-based athletic retailer WSS and Tokyo-based Atmos.
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Foot Locker competitors
| Company Name | Founded Date | Revenue | Employee Size | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nordstrom | 1901 | $15.5B | 74,000 | 2,695 |
| Gap Inc. | 1969 | $15.6B | 117,000 | 3,731 |
| American Eagle Outfitters | 1977 | $5.0B | 37,000 | - |
| The Children's Place | 1969 | $1.7B | 2,100 | 1,384 |
| Kohl's | 1962 | $18.1B | 110,000 | 2,545 |
| Staples | 1986 | $18.2B | 75,000 | 1,780 |
| Neiman Marcus Group | 1907 | $4.9B | 13,500 | 417 |
| Aeropostale | 1987 | $1.8B | 21,007 | 629 |
| Aldo | - | $1.7B | 25 | 2 |
| Eastbay | 1980 | $8.8B | 10,001 | 8 |
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Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Foot Locker, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Foot Locker. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Foot Locker. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Foot Locker. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Foot Locker and its employees or that of Zippia.
Foot Locker may also be known as or be related to Foot Locker, Foot Locker Inc, Foot Locker, Inc, Foot Locker, Inc. and Woolworth Co. (1988–1997) Venator Group (1997–2001).