Brown Shoe to stay in Clayton
By Gail ApplesonST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/10/2008 12:00:00 AM
Brown Shoe Co. is staying in Clayton and moving its Famous Footwear chain here from Madison, Wis. to create an expanded headquarters.
The company's decision puts to rest speculation that it might leave the St. Louis area.
All of the approximately 270 Madison-based employees will be offered jobs and relocation assistance. The relocation is expected to begin during the second quarter and be substantially completed by the end of the third quarter.
Brown said its growth plan anticipates relocating or creating 500-700 new jobs in the community over the next several years.
"It is our first choice to redevelop our Clayton site into a world-class mixed use development anchored by the future Brown Shoe and Famous Footwear corporate headquarters," Ronald Fromm, chief executive and chairman, said in a statement. "Our ability to do this will be contingent upon us working with state and local governments on the planning and approval processes associated with a development of this type. Ultimately, decisions about our physical space will be driven by what is right for our customers, employees, shareholders and the community."
Brown Shoe owns a 12-acre property in Clayton that houses its current headquarters and two adjacent office buildings.
Famous Footwear is a value-priced family shoe store chain with about 1,074 stores in 50 states. It has been in Madison since 1960, when it opened its first store as Neils Factory Outlet Shoes in the city. In the mid-1970s, the company renamed the stores Famous Footwear. Brown Shoe bought the company in 1981.
"As part of the strategic earnings enhancement plan we announced in 2006, we determined that creating one greatly connected footwear company is the right thing to do for our business, said Fromm in a statement. "We believe it will further enable us to attain our goal of doubling our rate of profitability while doubling our sales."
In January, Famous Footwear employees received information about relocation procedures, severance packages and other answers to questions that employees might have about the company's intention to consolidate all of its divisions into one location, WISC-TV in Madison reported.
Brown Shoe, which once was based in downtown St. Louis, has been at its Clayton headquarters since 1952.
Brown is both a wholesaler and retailer. In addition to Famous Footwear, it also operates 300 specialty retail stores in the U.S. and Canada under the Naturalizer, FX LaSalle and Franco Sarto names.
Brown also has an e-commerce subsidiary called Shoes.com. Its wholesale divisions market a range of brands including Naturalizer, Via Spiga, Dr. Scholl's, Etienne Aigner and Carlos by Carlos Santana.
