Shoe Zone
Footwear retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shoe Zone (stylised as shoezone) is a footwear retailer in the United Kingdom. It has over 270 stores in different cities and towns throughout the UK and over 2,200 employees. The company has an annual turnover of £161 million.[2] The company's headquarters are located in Leicester, England.[3][4]
 | |
| Formerly | Bensonshoe |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public limited company |
| AIM: SHOE | |
| ISIN | GB00BLTVCF91 |
| Industry | Footwear |
| Founded | 21 July 1917 in Leicester, England |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | Leicester, England, UK |
Number of locations | 271 (2025) |
Areas served | |
Key people |
|
| Revenue |  161.3m (2024) |
| 10.1m (2024) | |
| Owners |
|
Number of employees | 2,200 (2025) |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
History
The company was founded in England in 1917. Brothers Michael and Christopher Smith bought controlling shares in the footwear company, Bensonshoe, in 1980 (which was founded by their grandfather.)[5] By 2000, the company had 184 stores and late that year acquired The Oliver Group plc which added a further 258 stores to its portfolio.[5]
In September 2007, Shoe Zone acquired the shoe retailer Shoefayre for an undisclosed sum from its parent, The Co-operative Group, adding 300 stores to Shoe Zone's portfolio.[5] In January 2009, it bought Leicester-based Stead & Simpson and converted many stores to the Shoe Zone brand.
In 2021, the company made headlines when Peter Foot stepped down as finance director and was replaced by Terry Boot, a humorous double example of aptronyms.[6]
The company suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns which resulted in declining revenue. In 2020, Shoe Zone raised debt for the first time in 15 years with a £15M CLBILS facility from NatWest.[7]
In 2021, Shoe Zone returned a profit of £9.5M and the company announced it was debt free in January 2022.[2]
