"The U.S. sneaker market continues to boom and one British retailer wants a much bigger piece of that pie. JD Sports Fashion currently has nearly 400 stores in North America bearing its name, with plans to reach 800 by opening new stores and continuing to convert stores from the Finish Line chain it bought a few years ago. The company also owns several other sports apparel chains in the U.S. under different banners. All told, JD's various chains bring in nearly $6 billion a year stateside, making it one of the largest sports gear retailers in the country."
"But that is just a small sliver of the opportunity that JD CEO Régis Schultz sees for the Manchester, England-based retailer. The $24 billion sneaker market now represents about 60% of the U.S. footwear market, double the share from a decade ago, as running shoes replace Oxfords in many offices. And Schultz sees no end to the running shoe boom. "As soon as you start wearing sneakers, you don't go back to formal shoes," he told me in an on-stage interview at the National Retail Federation conference earlier this month in New York."
JD Sports Fashion operates nearly 400 North American stores and plans to grow to 800 through new openings and conversions of Finish Line locations. The company also owns multiple U.S. sports apparel banners and generates nearly $6 billion in annual U.S. revenue. The U.S. sneaker market is about $24 billion and accounts for roughly 60% of the U.S. footwear market, driven by rising demand for running shoes. JD pursued acquisitions like Hibbitt, Shoe Palace, and DLTR to broaden regional reach and reported holiday comparable sales growth in North America.
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