A Plan for Naturalizer

Brown Shoe Co. Inc. (St. Louis) has announced a series of moves — including closing of underperforming stores and opening of new outlet stores — to strengthen its flagship Naturalizer brand. The brand recently achieved the Number Two position among women’s fashion footwear brands in U.S. department stores.

The plan includes closing approximately 80 underperforming stores — 60 in the U.S. and 20 in Canada — and opening 30 new outlet stores in the U.S. and Canada over the next two to three years.

“The Naturalizer turnaround has been a great success story,” said Ron Fromm, Brown Shoe chairman and ceo. “Over the last six years, we have rejuvenated the Naturalizer brand, lowering the average age of our customer by 15-20 years, and we’ve more than doubled Naturalizer’s market share in department stores. Now, to take Naturalizer to the next level, we have added talent to our wholesale organization and are refining our store portfolio.

“With these retail and wholesale moves, we focus our stores in high- traffic fashion and outlet malls where our Naturalizer customer shops; and initiate new marketing to communicate the brand’s essence and image.”

The closing of the underperforming stores is expected to be completed by April 2006, resulting in a Specialty Retail division with approximately 300 stores, 275 of which are Naturalizer stores. The 30 outlet stores will add to that total over the next two to three years. In addition, Brown Shoe said it will test customer reactions to a new store prototype in fiscal 2005. Additional growth and remodeling will hinge on the outcome of these tests.