Should you assume inflation means shops are dropping costs to win shoppers again, assume once more. One in all America’s historic footwear large 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 line with the US Men’s and Women’s Footwear Market Report. However maintaining with altering style traits is now not the toughest a part of the sport.
At present, legacy retailers face intense strain from tariffs, inflation, and shifting client preferences. As McKinsey and Firm’s The State of Fashion 2026 report notes, new US tariffs have utterly “redrawn commerce maps,” forcing manufacturers to quickly reconstruct provide chains on the fly.
Individuals spent $121 billion on footwear final yr, importing six pairs of footwear per individual, in line with the FDRA. But one of many nation’s greatest shoe retailers, Caleresthe powerhouse behind Well-known Footwear, Sam Edelmanand Stuart Weitzmansays its reasonably priced 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 line with McKinsey. This shift is prompting many footwear retailers to rethink each retailer fleets and product methods.
I not too long ago reported about Genesco (the powerhouse behind Journeys) quietly shuttering 202 stores between 2023 and mid-2026. Then, there’s Freebird’s pull again, Foot Locker, which closed tons of of Champs locationsand JD Sports activities that introduced the structural winding down of 175 Hibbett stores.
Now, Caleres has joined the record, aggressively adapting to shifting client conduct.
Caleres closed 82 shops during the last 4 years, because it bets on premium footwear. Bloomberg / Getty Pictures
Caleres closed 82 shops during the last 4 years
A worldwide footwear powerhouse with a various portfolio of well-liked manufacturers, Caleres, not too long ago 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 reasonably priced phase Well-known Footwear skilled a web gross sales decline of two.5%.
In the course of 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 phase operated 894 shops, in line with the corporate’s Kind 10-K filing with the Securities and Change Fee. Which means that Caleres has closed 82 shops over the interval of 4 years and three months, averaging round 19 retailer closures per yr.
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 sturdy development, whereas a extra reasonably priced chain is struggling resulting from accelerated inflation squeezing on a regular basis shoppers.
“Whereas we noticed bettering traits main into Easter, we consider accelerated inflation put strain on client visitors and gross sales, particularly as we moved into April,” mentioned President and Chief Government Officer of Caleres, John Schmidt, throughout the earnings call.
Nonetheless, you will need to be aware that whereas Caleres plans one other 5 retailer closures this fiscal yr, it additionally plans to open one other 12 shops, which might then lead to a web decline of solely 3 shops for the yr. So, what’s behind this closing and opening technique?
Caleres bets on premium merchandise
To offset the decline within the reasonably priced phase, 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 Steadiness, Reef and Brookswhereas 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 well-liked manufacturers. In truth, “manufacturers are a serious strategic lever for Caleres,” writes Umbrex. Why? As a result of the corporate’s biggest 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 procuring.
Sam Edelman: One in all Caleres’s most necessary style manufacturers, offering accessible luxurious ladies’s footwear with fashionable 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 help 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 Sneakers and LifeStride. Manufacturers related to consolation, informal put on, and sensible on a regular basis footwear. Sources: Caleres, Umbrex
What Caleres’ new technique means for the corporate and shoppers
Retail analysts more and more view retailer closures as a approach to enhance profitability reasonably than an indication of imminent bother. Analysis from Placer.ai notes that chains usually scale back places once they can attain the identical clients 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 reasonably than collapse.
“Retailer closures aren’t all that uncommon” and aren’t essentially proof of a “retail apocalypse,” Saunders said.
For shoppers, the extra vital shift might not be the shop closures themselves, however Caleres’ rising give attention to premium footwear.
The corporate is more and more emphasizing premium manufacturers and higher-priced merchandise, together with Jordan, Birkenstock, Brooks, New Steadinessand Skechers. On the identical time, administration expects Well-known Footwear gross sales and comparable gross sales to say no this yr at the same time as its premium model portfolio continues to develop.
Consequently, shoppers may see:
Extra shelf house dedicated to premium footwear.
Continued closure of underperforming places as the corporate refines its retailer fleet.
Better funding in on-line and direct-to-consumer procuring.
Much less emphasis on lower-priced classes as administration pursues higher-margin merchandise.
