Freeman, Hardy and Willis was a major chain of footwear retailers in the United Kingdom.
The shoe retailer was established in 1875 and was named after three employees of the company. For many years, there was a branch in nearly every town in the United Kingdom. In 1929 the company was acquired by Sears.[1] Its subsidiary, the British Shoe Corporation, based in Leicester, went on to own the Trueform, Curtess, Dolcis, Manfield, Saxone and Lilley & Skinner brands. The name was also changed to simply Freeman Hardy Willis in order to have bolder lettering on shopfronts. During the early '60s the paper bags used to wrap your shoes had the FHW letters and the legend For Happy Walking printed on them.
In the early 1990s the British Shoe Corporation converted approximately half of the 540 Freeman Hardy Willis branches into Hush Puppies shops and sold the remainder to Stephen Hinchliffe, an entrepreneur from Sheffield. After only a year, Hinchliffe's business empire collapsed. He was subsequently jailed after it was found that he bribed bank officials to obtain loans to buy the company.[2] After providing "Shoes For All The Family" since 1875, Freeman Hardy Willis was no more by 1996. After closure, 44 former FHW branches were sold to Stead & Simpson.