Foot Locker Looking To Shutter 100 Stores

Foot Locker has revealed plans to close about 110 stores this calendar year after reporting a loss of US$49 million for the last quarter.

The closures follow the cull of 147 stores globally last year – however it will continue to open new stores where there is market potential, with about 40 likely this year.

“We continue to prune the fleet of under-productive stores and open a few select, high-profile stores,” Foot Locker CFO Lauren Peters said in an earnings call with investors.

Most of the stores to be closed are located in “deteriorating” shopping malls, typically in regional US, where shoppers are increasingly going online to buy essentials.

Where an American consumer may once have gone to a Foot Locker store to buy Nike or Adidas shoes, they can now go online to the manufacturer’s site or to a portal like Amazon where they can shop multiple categories without leaving the sofa.

Globally, Foot Locker has 3310 stores after opening in 94 new locations last calendar year.

“The disruption that has characterised the retail industry recently is not going away,” CEO Richard Johnson added. “Consumers want experiences, they want cool products, and they want it all – fast.”