Source: Shoe Palace | Shoes, Clothing, & Gear from Elite Brands
Shoe Palace is a West Coast retailer. There aren’t any stores in my region, but with the reach of digital, brick and mortar stores are no longer catering only to where they are located. Digital can give chains the ability to reach potential consumers in other cities or countries. When Shoe Palace was acquired by JD Sports, it gave JD an urban retail experience. Urban stores typically cater to a cash customer who doesn’t really participate in the digital marketplace. However, as Nike ramps up their Consumer Direct Acceleration, this customer is beginning to become more and more important in the business decision of retailers who have long relied on Nike as the draw to their doors.
FDRA reports that supply chain issues will linger throughout 2022 into 2023. On a recent retail visit to a local Champs, I had a chance to speak with the manager. He discussed the secondary brands and how little Nike product the store was receiving. Champs is not a JD Sports affiliate, it’s a Foot Locker chain. I bring up Champs as a comparison to Shoe Palace because the store looked less like a traditional sneaker store and more like an “urban” account relying heavily on apparel for revenue. The store had Cross Colours alongside Nike, adidas, Champion and Champs’ own CSG line. Nike, who only a year ago held 75% of the entire sneaker section with Nike and Jordan Brand at Champs, only held about 20% of the sneaker section. The manager explained that his store was doing well, but Nike’s lack of shipping would hurt Nike in the long run. He explained while his sneaker sales were not as good as previous quarters, customers looking to match their apparel have begun to buy what’s available from the secondary brands (Fila, Puma, Reebok). He also explained that Timberland has a real opportunity to expand their share in this market.
Champs and stores like City Gear and Jimmy Jazz in this region are similar to Shoe Palace. There is one considerable difference in these retail outlets, Shoe Palace places an emphasis on their own products just as much as they place an emphasis on adidas and Ivy Park or Nike and Puma. Since I don’t have a SP in this region, to gather information I visit the site and I reach out to different people at the company. I had a few questions about Shoe Palace after looking at the digital merchandising on the site. Instead of a heavy focus on the brands the store carries, I noticed immediately collaborations and brands I never heard of before. There were images of Scarface and E.T. (the movie) Clothing Collections, and the brands Maison Article and Sacre Clothing. I sent several questions to a rep at Shoe Palace.