Rack Room Shoes

Last updated
Rack Room Shoes
Company typeDivision of Deichmann Group
Industry Retail
Founded Salisbury, North Carolina, 1922
FounderPhil Levinson
Headquarters,
U.S.
Number of locations
450+
Products Footwear
Divisions Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse
Website rackroomshoes.com
Rack Room Shoes store in Valdosta, Georgia Rack Room Shoes Lake Charles LA.jpg
Rack Room Shoes store in Valdosta, Georgia

Rack Room Shoes is an American footwear retailer headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, which operates more than 500 stores in 36 states under the Rack Room Shoes and Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse brands.

Contents

Both brands offer a variety of styles for women, men and children in athletic, comfort and dress categories, as well as accessories, backpacks, shoe care items, and socks.

The company owns private label footwear brands including: Bjorndal, Bluefin, Cupcake Couture, Xappeal, Limelight, Restoration, Lauren Blakwell, Pesaro, West Harris, and Michael by Michael Shannon.

History

The company was founded in 1922 in Salisbury, North Carolina by Phil Levinson, who sold his Phil's Shoe stores to his son-in-law, Mort Lerner, who was the owner of Lerner's Shoes. Mort Lerner changed the name of the stores to Rack Room Shoes. In 1984, Rack Room Shoes was purchased  by the privately held Deichmann Group of Germany., [1] [2] Europe's largest and most well-known shoe retailer.

Rack Room Shoes purchased Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse [3] in 2002 and completed bringing operating functions of Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, together with its own in 2021. [4] The move allows the retailer's customers to earn loyalty points through one program, shop one ecommerce site, and pick-up, return and exchange merchandise at either of the brands’ locations.

Company focus

In 2016, Rack Room Shoes launched the Athletic Shop, with an increased emphasis on its widespread athletic offering. The Athletic Shop is a shop-within-a-shop concept in brick and mortar stores and e-commerce spaces.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nordstrom</span> American luxury department store chain

Nordstrom, Inc. is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a second Nordstrom's shoe store opened in 1923. The growing Nordstrom Best chain began selling clothing in 1963, and became the Nordstrom full-line retailer that presently exists by 1971. The company founded its off-price Nordstrom Rack division in 1973, and grew both full-line and off-price divisions throughout the United States in the following years. The full-line division competes with department stores including Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue, while the off-price division competes with retailers including the TJX Companies and Ross Stores. Previous expansions beyond the contiguous United States include Puerto Rico (2015–2020) and Canada (2014–2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roots Canada</span> Canadian apparel and home furnishings company

Roots Corporation is a publicly held Canadian brand that sells apparel, leather bags, small leather goods, footwear, athletic wear, and home furnishings. The company was founded in 1973 in Toronto, Ontario, by Michael Budman and Don Green. In 2015, Roots was sold to Searchlight Capital Partners LP, an American investment firm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katy Mills</span> Shopping mall in Texas, United States

Katy Mills is a shopping mall in Katy, Texas, within the Houston metropolitan area, gradually growing into a premier tourist destination on the west side of Houston. It was developed by The Mills Corporation and is now managed by Simon Property Group, who owns 62.5% of it. The mall opened on October 28, 1999 and hosted a variety of over 174 stores. Katy Mills has about 1.3 million square feet (0.12 km2) of retail space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foot Locker</span> American multinational footwear and sportswear retail company

Foot Locker, Inc. is an American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Just For Feet</span>

Just For Feet Inc. was an athletic shoe and sportswear retail store chain headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama which became one of the largest and fastest growing athletic stores in the United States. In 2000, Footstar acquired Just For Feet. It closed its last store in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deichmann SE</span> German multinational footwear retailer

Deichmann SE is one of Europe's largest footwear retailers and is headquartered in Essen, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldo (brand)</span> Canadian shoe retailer

The ALDO Group branded and stylised as ALDO, is a Canadian multinational premium retailer specializing in shoes and accessories, established in 1972 in Montreal, Quebec. The company was founded by Aldo Bensadoun and its corporate headquarters are based in the Saint-Laurent, Quebec. A worldwide corporation, it has 3,000 stores across 100 countries. Stores in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and Ireland are owned by the Group, while international stores are franchised.

Thom McAn is an American brand of shoes and was formerly a retail chain. It is currently sold in Kmart and Sears stores. It consists of leather-dress, casual, and athletic shoes. Until the 1990s, Thom McAn had hundreds of retail stores in the US, and was one of the oldest and best-known shoe retailers in the country. As of late 2008, the brand was controlled by Sears Brands, LLC.

Barratts was a brand of high street shoe shops operating in the UK and Ireland. The Barratts shoes brand traded from 100 UK and Ireland stores.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Geiger</span> British footwear and accessories retailer

Kurt Geiger is a luxury British footwear and accessories brand. Kurt Geiger has around 70 stores, and multiple concessions within department stores, including Harrods and Selfridges. Kurt Geiger owns three brands Kurt Geiger London, KG Kurt Geiger and Carvela, created by its in-house team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marathon Sports (retailer)</span> American sporting goods retailer

Marathon Sports, LLC. is an American chain of sporting goods retailers founded in 1975. It is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, and operates 14 stores in Massachusetts and 4 locations in Connecticut operating under the Marathon Sports brand and three locations in New Hampshire operating under the Runner's Alley brand. The chain mainly sells running/walking footwear and athletic apparel.

Off-price is a trading format based on discount pricing. Off-price retailers are independent of manufacturers and buy large volumes of branded goods directly from them. The off-price retail model relies on the purchase of over-produced, or excess, branded goods at a lower price, thus being able to sell to consumers at a discount compared to other stores which purchased an initial run. Among the largest retailers of this type are TJX Companies and Ross Stores. The model is more common in countries that import fashion-oriented or household goods, as the discount role in producer countries is usually filled by factory outlets or small-scale open-air marketplaces.

Edison Brothers Stores, Inc., was a retail conglomerate based in St. Louis, Missouri. It operated numerous retail chains mainly located in shopping malls, mostly in the fields of shoes, clothing and entertainment, with Bakers Shoes as its flagship chain. The company was liquidated in 1999, though some of the chains it operated continued under different owners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Retail apocalypse</span> Widespread decline in physical retail stores

Retail apocalypse refers to the closing of numerous brick-and-mortar retail stores, especially those of large chains, beginning around 2010 and accelerating due to the mandatory closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The retail format influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are exchanged. In some parts of the world, the retail sector is still dominated by small family-run stores, but large retail chains are increasingly dominating the sector, because they can exert considerable buying power and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices. Many of these large retail chains also produce their own private labels which compete alongside manufacturer brands. Considerable consolidation of retail stores has changed the retail landscape, transferring power away from wholesalers and into the hands of the large retail chains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannahs</span> New Zealand menswear fashion brand and retail chain

Hannahs is a New Zealand footwear retail company.

Overland Footwear Group is a New Zealand and Australian footwear and fashion retail company. It operates the Merchant 1948 and Mi Piaci retail chains in both countries and produces its own footwear lines.

References

  1. "About Rack Room Shoes". www.rackroomshoes.com. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  2. "Rack Room Shoes to expand Charlotte headquarters | CharlotteObserver.…". Archived from the original on 2013-06-28. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  3. "Rack Room is taking giant steps with expansion - Charlotte Business Journal". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  4. "Rack Room To Merge Customer Touchpoints With Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse | SGB Media Online". sgbonline.com. 2020-12-31. Retrieved 2021-05-19.