American sports retailer Foot Locker will shutter its Hong Kong and Macau stores in 2023 in a move to “simplify operations and invest in core banners and capabilities” as it reorganises its business operations in Asia.
The company also announced in the official statement on March 20 the closure of 400 stores in North America by 2026, especially mall-based stores with underperforming sales. President and CEO of Foot Locker, Mary Dillon, did not announce the exact timeframe that Foot Locker would close in Hong Kong in the statement.
On the day of this article’s publishing, the Foot Locker Hong Kong website shows more than 1,200 clearance items on sale, with shoes up to nearly 50% off.
The athletic apparel brand opened its first store in the city in 1994 before bowing out a few years later and re-entering with a relaunch in 2018. Hong Kong now has six Foot Locker shops, located in Kowloon Bay, Mong Kok, Sha Tin, Tsim Sha Tsui, Tuen Mun, and Yuen Long.
As part of a larger move to “simplify its business model”, Foot Locker will remain open in South Korea, while retailer MAP Active, which already distributes Foot Locker’s products in Indonesia and the Philippines, will take control of online and in-store operations in Malaysia and Singapore.
At the moment, the US sportswear giant operates 159 franchised stores in the Middle East and Asia.
With these changes, outlined as part of the company’s new “Lace Up” strategy aimed at redeveloping the brand and shifting away from stores in malls, Foot Locker hopes to achieve a 8.5% to 9% margin rate by 2026.
Header image credits: JaWings 2001 via WikiCommons
