Foot Locker

former name

F. W. Woolworth Company (1879–1989) Woolworth Corporation (1989–1998) Venator Group (1998–2001)

type

Subsidiary

predecessor

F. W. Woolworth Company

founded

February 22, 1879 (first stores) February 16, 1905 (company) September 12, 1974 (brand)

founders

F. W. Woolworth and Santiago Lopez

hq location

112 West 34th Street

hq location city

New York City, New York 10120

hq location country

U.S.

num locations

2,523 stores (2023)

area served

Worldwide

key people

Ann Freeman (President & CEO)

industry

Clothing

brands

Foot Locker Kids Foot Locker Lady Foot Locker House of Hoops

revenue

US$8.15 billion (2023)‡R1R‡

operating income

US$142 million (2023)‡R1R‡

net income

US$-330 million (2023)‡R1R‡

assets

US$6.87 billion (2023)‡R1R‡

equity

US$2.89 billion (2023)‡R1R‡

num employees

46,846 (2023)‡R1R‡

parent

Dick's Sporting Goods

subsid

Champs Sports WSS Runner's Point Sidestep

website

footlocker.com

Foot Locker, Inc. is an American multinational retailer of footwear, sportswear, urban youth apparel and accessories owned by Dick's Sporting Goods and headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City,[2] and operating in over 40 countries.

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 was incorporated in 1905 and 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 2023, Foot Locker, Inc. had 2,523 primarily mall-based stores in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Nearly 70% of its products are from Nike

History

Early years

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.[6] 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;[7][8] this decision had been preceded by the closure of all Canadian Kinney Shoe stores that April.[9] Matthew Serra became president and COO in 2000.[10]

Rebranding as Foot Locker

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.[11] At that time, Serra became CEO of the company. In 2004, he was also named chairman. In the early 2000s, the majority of Foot Locker stores were renovated and standardized.[10] On November 19, 2004, Foot Locker announced that its quarterly profit rose 19 percent, helped by stronger sales.[12]

In 2004, Foot Locker acquired the Footaction USA brand and approximately 350 stores from Footstar for $350 million (~$ in ).[13] On April 14, 2004, Foot Locker Inc. announced that it agreed to buy about 350 Footaction stores from bankrupt Footstar Inc. for $160 million (~$ in ) to expand in urban areas.[14]

Acquisition by Dick's Sporting Goods

On May 15, 2025, Dick's Sporting Goods announced that it would acquire the Foot Locker, Inc. company as well as its brands, including Foot Locker, for $2.4 billion.[35] The deal closed on September 8, 2025. After the acquisition, Dillon was replaced by former Nike executive Ann Freeman as President and CEO.[36]

History

Early years

Rebranding as Foot Locker

Acquisition by Dick's Sporting Goods

Controversies

Stores

External links

References