In case you suppose inflation means shops are dropping costs to win shoppers again, suppose once more. One in every of America’s historic footwear big is definitely betting on higher-priced merchandise, and shutting shops at your native malls.
The best way we purchase footwear has radically remodeled. Stiff gown footwear have been changed by versatile consolation, in response to the US Males’s and Ladies’s Footwear Market Report. However maintaining with altering vogue developments is not the toughest a part of the sport.
At present, legacy retailers face intense stress from tariffs, inflation, and shifting shopper preferences. As McKinsey and Firm’s The State of Trend 2026 report notes, new US tariffs have fully “redrawn commerce maps,” forcing manufacturers to quickly reconstruct provide chains on the fly.
People spent $121 billion on footwear final 12 months, importing six pairs of footwear per particular person, in response to the FDRA. But one of many nation’s greatest shoe retailers, Caleres, the powerhouse behind Well-known Footwear, Sam Edelman, and Stuart Weitzman, says its inexpensive enterprise is slowing whereas demand for premium manufacturers surges.
Inflation-pressured shoppers are dropping mall impulse buys to prioritize private well-being, well being, and longevity, in response to McKinsey. This shift is prompting many footwear retailers to rethink each retailer fleets and product methods.
I just lately reported about Genesco (the powerhouse behind Journeys) quietly shuttering 202 shops between 2023 and mid-2026. Then, there’s Freebird’s pull again, Foot Locker, which closed tons of of Champs places, and JD Sports activities that introduced the structural winding down of 175 Hibbett shops.
Now, Caleres has joined the record, aggressively adapting to shifting shopper conduct.
Caleres closed 82 shops during the last 4 years, because it bets on premium footwear. Bloomberg / Getty Photographs
Caleres closed 82 shops during the last 4 years
A worldwide footwear powerhouse with a various portfolio of standard manufacturers, Caleres, just lately reported its first quarter earnings outcomes, revealing a web gross sales enhance of 8.5% year-over-year reaching $666.6 million.
Importantly, whereas the premium model portfolio noticed web gross sales enhance 20.6% year-over-year, the corporate’s extra inexpensive section Well-known Footwear skilled a web gross sales decline of two.5%.
Through the quarter, the corporate closed 10 Well-known Footwear retailer places and opened one, ending the quarter with 812 shops.
On the finish of 2021, Well-known Footwear section operated 894 shops, in response to the corporate’s Kind 10-Okay submitting with the Securities and Trade Fee. Which means Caleres has closed 82 shops over the interval of 4 years and three months, averaging round 19 retailer closures per 12 months.
Why has Caleres been closing shops?
Wanting on the firm’s uncooked earnings numbers, it may be noticed that whereas the corporate’s model gross sales have grown considerably, its Well-known Footwear web gross sales have been declining, together with Well-known Footwear comparable gross sales.
Caleres explicitly famous that its luxurious and premium manufacturers segments, corresponding to Stuart Weitzman and Sam Edelman are seeing robust development, whereas a extra inexpensive chain is struggling as a result of accelerated inflation squeezing on a regular basis shoppers.
“Whereas we noticed bettering developments main into Easter, we imagine accelerated inflation put stress on shopper site visitors and gross sales, particularly as we moved into April,” mentioned President and Chief Government Officer of Caleres, John Schmidt, through the earnings name.
Nevertheless, you will need to notice that whereas Caleres plans one other 5 retailer closures this fiscal 12 months, it additionally plans to open one other 12 shops, which might then lead to a web decline of solely 3 shops for the 12 months. So, what’s behind this closing and opening technique?
Caleres bets on premium merchandise
To offset the decline within the inexpensive section, Caleres is now doubling down on its “elevate-and-edit technique,” which has seen highly effective development.
The so-called elevate-and-edit technique is Well-known Footwear’s initiative to extend the assortment and gross sales of premium, trend-forward manufacturers and merchandise, shifting away from lower-margin worth classes — a method that seems to be figuring out.
“Our Elevate-and-Edit technique continues to resonate with our Well-known shoppers. Gross sales of Elevated merchandise elevated almost 50% within the quarter and penetration reached nearly 20% year-over-year. We noticed development within the quarter from Jordan, Skechers, Birkenstock, New Stability, Reef and Brooks, whereas a number of manufacturers within the Caleres portfolio completed amongst Well-known’ prime 15 best-selling manufacturers,” added Schmidt.
The manufacturers most shoppers don’t know Caleres owns
Caleres, based 148 years in the past, is the powerhouse behind a number of standard manufacturers. The truth is, “manufacturers are a significant strategic lever for Caleres,” writes Umbrex. Why? As a result of the corporate’s best energy just isn’t solely in promoting footwear, however in providing consumer-facing footwear manufacturers throughout numerous costs and makes use of.
Caleres’ key manufacturers:
Well-known Footwear: A prime informal and athletic model for the entire household, constructed round comfort, worth, and repeat buying.
Sam Edelman: One in every of Caleres’s most vital vogue manufacturers, offering accessible luxurious ladies’s footwear with stylish enchantment.
Allen Edmonds: A heritage premium males’s model identified for prime quality, handcrafted American footwear for males.
Stuart Weitzman: The worldwide luxurious model that includes artisanal craftsmanship with exact engineering.
Naturalizer: A ladies’s footwear model with a protracted heritage and a positioning that blends consolation and elegance.
Vionic: A consolation and wellness-oriented model with enchantment to shoppers who prioritize assist and on a regular basis put on.
Blowfish Malibu: A extra informal and value-oriented model, particularly related in on a regular basis ladies’s footwear.
Dr. Scholl’s Footwear and LifeStride. Manufacturers related to consolation, informal put on, and sensible on a regular basis footwear. Sources: Caleres, Umbrex
Associated: Iconic mall chain you grew up visiting simply closed one other 30 shops
What Caleres’ new technique means for the corporate and shoppers
Retail analysts more and more view retailer closures as a method to enhance profitability somewhat than an indication of imminent hassle. Analysis from Placer.ai notes that chains typically scale back places after they can attain the identical prospects extra effectively via a smaller footprint and digital channels.
Neil Saunders, Managing Director and Retail Analyst at GlobalData Retail, has repeatedly argued that retailer closures are sometimes optimization somewhat than collapse.
“Retailer closures aren’t all that uncommon” and aren’t essentially proof of a “retail apocalypse,” Saunders mentioned.
For shoppers, the extra vital shift might not be the shop closures themselves, however Caleres’ rising deal with premium footwear.
The corporate is more and more emphasizing premium manufacturers and higher-priced merchandise, together with Jordan, Birkenstock, Brooks, New Stability, and Skechers. On the identical time, administration expects Well-known Footwear gross sales and comparable gross sales to say no this 12 months whilst its premium model portfolio continues to develop.
Because of this, shoppers might see:
Extra shelf house dedicated to premium footwear.
Continued closure of underperforming places as the corporate refines its retailer fleet.
Larger funding in on-line and direct-to-consumer buying.
Much less emphasis on lower-priced classes as administration pursues higher-margin merchandise.
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