Shoe Carnival Inc. announced a banner switch initiative in September 2024 to convert some of its footwear stores to another brand it owns called Shoe Station.
The brand change is going so well that the company controlled by former Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver is expanding it, planning to convert most of its Shoe Carnival stores to Shoe Station.
At the end of its first quarter May 3, the company had 334 Shoe Carnival stores, 67 Shoe Station stores and 28 under another brand it owns called Rogan’s.
Its plan now is to have 120 of its stores operating as Shoe Station by the end of this fiscal year and 80% of its stores under that brand by March 2027.
That’s up from its plan announced just two months earlier to have 51% of its stores under the Shoe Station banner.
Shoe Carnival acquired Shoe Station, which had 21 stores at the time, in 2021.
The Shoe Station brand targets a more affluent customer than Shoe Carnival.
In a news release, the company said Shoe Station has been the industry’s fastest growing chain over the last two years, while Shoe Carnival and the family footwear industry has been declining.
Shoe Station stores contributed a 4.9% increase in net sales in the first quarter while Shoe Carnival store sales dropped 10%, the company reported.
“It is crystal clear that Shoe Station is the future of our organic growth and future of our store base,” CEO Mark Worden said in a May 30 conference call with analysts.
“Will Shoe Station represent 100% of the current store fleet in the future? I can share the organization is deeply evaluating that,” he said.
Shoe Carnival reported total first-quarter sales fell 7.5% to $277.7 million.
Earnings fell 46% to $9.3 million, or 34 cents a share, due in part to the costs of its re-banner program.
Besides the banner switch, Shoe Carnival also announced it moved its corporate headquarters to Fort Mill, South Carolina.
The company had been headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, since it was founded in 1978, and it will continue to maintain distribution and support operations in Evansville.
Fort Mill is a small town about 15 miles south of Charlotte, North Carolina.
“This office is where I am based along with our senior leaders, merchants, marketers and our customer-facing teams. It is also where we collaborate with our vendor partners, host our annual shareholder meeting and conduct our Board meetings and earnings calls,” he said.
“As such, the leadership team thought this office location would best serve as our corporate headquarters.”
Shoe Carnival has had an office in Fort Mill for several years, which has helped the company attract talent and provides more efficient travel to other parts of the country, Worden said.
Weaver gained control of Shoe Carnival in 1988 and took the company public in 1993, the same year he was awarded the Jaguars franchise by the NFL.
Weaver remains chairman of Shoe Carnival’s board and its largest shareholder. He and his wife, Delores, control 33.6% of the stock.