Shoe Zone is a footwear retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland which sells shoes at low prices. It has over 800 stores in different cities and towns throughout the UK and Ireland and around 5,750 employees. The company has an annual turnover of 239 million. Its headquarters are located on Humberstone Road in Leicester next to the railway.
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The Company was founded in 1917 under the name Bensonshoe.[1] It was acquired by the Smith family in 1980.[1] The Company acquired Leicester based Tylers in 1986 adding a further 61 branches to the business.[1] By 2000 the company had 184 branches and late that year acquired The Oliver Group plc which added a further 258 stores to its portfolio.[1]
On 7 September 2007, Shoe Zone bought the shoe retailer, Shoefayre, for an undisclosed sum from its parent, The Co-operative Group, adding 250 stores to Shoe Zone's portfolio.[1] On 28 January 2008, it bought Leicester-based Stead & Simpson. It was replaced by one of the old stores Shoe Fayre.
The company sells approximately 30 million pairs of footwear per year, just under 1 pair a second.They have over 5,750 employees. Shoe Zone also has a small charity branch known as the Shoe Zone Trust which donates a proportion of the company's profits to cancer research and charitable organisations.