Famous Footwear

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Famous Footwear is a nationwide chain of retail stores in the United States, which offers a variety of footwear from brands like: Nike, Skechers, Aerosoles, Steve Madden, New Balance, Converse, Puma, roxy, and many other brands.

Famous Footwear is owned by Brown Shoe Company.

Famous Footwear has expanded througout the years it has been open.

Famous Footwear has a rich history with company beginings over 40 years ago in Madison, WI. Since that time Famous Footwear has grown to over 925 stores of brand name shoes for less and climbing.

1960 - With a $10,000 loan, 29-year-old Neil Moldenhauer opens "Neil's Factory Outlet Shoes" in Madison, Wisconsin. Neil's concept, "Brand name shoes for less," is decades ahead of its time.

1964 - Stock boy Brian Cook is made Neil's Madison store manager. Moldenhauer expands the business to Iowa, opening one store in Cedar Rapids. It is the first store to be called Famous Footwear.

1969 - Neil's is now an eight-store chain. Its annual revenues have grown to $950,000 from $300,000 over the previous four years.

1974 - Cook, long-time employee Dave Orfan and a group of outside investors purchase 90 percent of the chain, now 15 stores strong, in a leveraged buyout. Orfan is made president of the chain and Cook is executive vice president. All stores are now called Famous Footwear, a change gradually instituted since 1965.

1980 - The company now has 36 Famous Footwear stores in nine states with sales of $30 million. Famous Footwear is acquired by St. Louis-based Brown Group, Inc., part of the original Brown Shoe Company, one of the leading shoe manufacturers in the U.S. and makers of such well-known brands as Naturalizer and Buster Brown. Under the terms of the acquisition, Famous Footwear maintains its headquarters in Madison. Brown Group in St. Louis opens a Southern division of Famous Footwear, which eventually grows to 80 stores.

1986 - Famous Footwear now has 135 stores managed by the Madison office. They merge operations with the Southern division managed in St. Louis, and end the year with 230 Famous Footwear stores.

1990 - The company adds 47 new stores and absorbs three discount footwear chains operated by Wohl Shoe Company, a division of Brown Group. To keep pace with such rapid growth, the company opens a 740,000 square-foot distribution center in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. The center, equipped with state-of-the-art inventory processing systems, doubles Famous Footwear's distribution capacity. Famous Footwear has 304 stores at year-end.

1991 - Famous Footwear adds 66 new units and ends the year with 353 Famous Footwear stores in 39 states and $268 million in sales.

1992 - Famous Footwear has a banner year, opening 105 new stores and acquiring 63 additional stores from Wohl Shoe Company. With 477 stores by year's end, Famous Footwear is the nation's largest chain of shoe stores selling branded footwear for the entire family.

1993 - The company closes the year with 722 stores in 44 states. To increase its distribution capacity, Famous Footwear breaks ground for a 800,000 square foot distribution center in Lebanon, Tennessee.

1995 - The Famous Footwear chain now consists of 814 stores in 44 states employing 8,500 people. The company establishes a significant presence in Los Angeles with the opening of 58 stores in the greater LA area. The Lebanon Distribution Center is completed and begins serving stores in the south and west.

1999 - Famous Footwear finishes the year with 867 stores in 49 states and Guam. The company begins a major penetration of the Boston market and opens two stores in Alaska.

2000 - The company acquires Mil-Mar Shoe Co., Inc., a privately owned footwear chain based in Milwaukee, WI. The former 27 Mil-Mar stores are in Milwaukee, Illinois and Iowa and do business under the Warehouse Shoes and All About Shoes names.

2001 - Famous Footwear reaches the $1 billion sales mark for the first time in mid-January. Cook announces his retirement as President on August 23, 2001.

2002 - Joseph W. Wood is selected as President of Famous Footwear. The company now has 924 stores in the United States, Guam and Puerto Rico and continues to provide "brand name shoes for less."

ON April 10 2008 Brown shoe announced that they were moving famous footwear corporate headquarters from Madison Wisconsin to St. Louis Missouri.