National mall footwear giant closes 82 stores as shoppers trade up

If you deliberation ostentation means stores are dropping prices to triumph consumers back, deliberation again. One of America's historical footwear elephantine is really betting connected higher-priced products, and closing stores astatine your section malls.

The mode we bargain shoes has radically transformed. Stiff formal shoes person been replaced by versatile comfort, according to the US Men’s and Women’s Footwear Market Report. But keeping up with changing manner trends is nary longer the hardest portion of the game.

Today, bequest retailers look aggravated unit from tariffs, inflation, and shifting user preferences. As McKinsey and Company’s The State of Fashion 2026 study notes, caller US tariffs person wholly "redrawn commercialized maps," forcing brands to rapidly reconstruct proviso chains connected the fly.

Americans spent $121 cardinal connected footwear past year, importing six pairs of shoes per person, according to the FDRA. Yet 1 of the country's biggest footwear retailers, Caleres, the powerhouse down Famous Footwear, Sam Edelman, and Stuart Weitzman, says its affordable concern is slowing portion request for premium brands surges.

Inflation-pressured consumers are dropping promenade impulse buys to prioritize idiosyncratic well-being, health, and longevity, according to McKinsey. This displacement is prompting galore footwear retailers to rethink some store fleets and merchandise strategies.

I precocious reported astir Genesco (the powerhouse down Journeys) softly shuttering 202 stores betwixt 2023 and mid-2026. Then, there’s Freebird’s propulsion back, Foot Locker, which closed hundreds of Champs locations, and JD Sports that announced the structural winding down of 175 Hibbett stores.

Now, Caleres has joined the list, aggressively adapting to shifting user behavior.

Caleres closed 82 stores implicit the past 4 years 

A planetary footwear powerhouse with a divers portfolio of fashionable brands, Caleres, precocious reported its archetypal 4th net results, revealing a nett income summation of 8.5% year-over-year reaching $666.6 million.

Importantly, portion the premium marque portfolio saw nett income summation 20.6% year-over-year, the company’s much affordable conception Famous Footwear experienced a nett income diminution of 2.5%.

During the quarter, the institution closed 10 Famous Footwear store locations and opened one, ending the 4th with 812 stores.

At the extremity of 2021, Famous Footwear conception operated 894 stores, according to the company’s Form 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This means that Caleres has closed 82 stores implicit the play of 4 years and 3 months, averaging astir 19 store closures per year.