Foot Locker Purchase atmos and WSS in $1.1 Billion Total Acquisition

Foot Locker have added two new acquisitions to their expanding brand portfolio – Japanese boutique atmos and the American footwear chain store WSS – made across two separate purchases to a total of $1.1 billion.

As reported by Footwear News, Foot Locker paid $360 million to add atmos to their network of brands, which already includes Champs Sports and Eastbay. Most sneakerheads will be familiar with atmos, whose coveted collaborations, strong product assortment, and influential status in the Japanese sneaker scene has helped founder Hidefumi Hommyo grow the business into a 49-store empire across Japan and the world.

‘With atmos, we are executing against our expansion initiative in the rapidly growing Asia-Pacific market, establishing a critical entry point in Japan and benefitting from immediate scale,’ said Foot Locker Chairman and CEO Dick Johnson.

WSS (formerly known as Warehouse Shoe Sale), who are positioned as a high street, ‘off-mall’ retailer, was purchased for a reported $750 million; a deal that adds 93 stores throughout the US west coast. Company president Rick Mina – a former high-ranking executive at Foot Locker – has spent the past few years growing WSS to compete with FL, achieving 80 per cent of its sales via strong loyalty program membership.

‘WSS has built a successful, high-growth business by pioneering the neighbourhood-based store model. This acquisition… provides access to a customer base… both differentiated from and complementary to our current portfolio,’ said Johnson.