By Shereen Siewert Foot Locker will eliminate multiple departments in its downtown Wausau location, shifting some operations to Florida
The first thought I have is to wish the employees well who have been furloughed or laid off and will now have to make a decision to uproot their families at this extremely difficult time. According to several Wausau media outlets this contraction by Foot Locker was going to happen independent of the COVID-19 crisis. The company is laying off 187 employees by July.
In the notice, the Footlocker Inc. vice president and deputy general counsel, Dennis Sheehan, said the company is looking for “opportunities to further integrate our Eastbay, Inc. and Champs Sports brands to strengthen both businesses and create enhanced experiences for our customers.” WSAW-TV
Eastbay was a core aspect of sneaker culture. The magazines gave kids everywhere the ability to see the latest sneakers and provided tons of cut outs to be hung on walls of aspiring athletes. Eastbay magazine was the Hypebeast website of its day.
Analysis
My immediate commentary on Foot Locker absorbing and folding Eastbay into Champs is that the company is top heavy and this is a cost cutting measure that will actually improve the business. It’s never good to see people lose jobs, but Eastbay’s core business was team sales. The unintentional affect of grassroots basketball was the growth of team sales by brands and the utilization of grassroots coaches as contacts for uniforms and sneakers. This has shaped local businesses as well and has almost wiped out small team sales stores in all regions.
Eastbay is also connected to Footlocker.com and there could have been some redundancy in a supply chain that has become more streamlined as the Stock Locator program for Foot Locker has become much more efficient in pulling orders from stores to expedite the speed in shipping to digital consumers.
Is this a harbinger? Not really. I predict that a number of Foot Locker locations will be closed to prepare for the acquisition of a smaller chain of stores with strategic locations in key areas of North America. COVID-19 will ultimately be the straw that creates the contraction of stores needed in the U.S.
