The Walking Company, Westlake Village, Calif., a specialty retailer of comfort footwear, today announced the acquisition of Atlanta-based FootSmart, a division of Benchmark Brands Inc., through a UCC Article 9 asset purchase conducted by national commercial bank.
Founded in 1989, FootSmart is a direct retailer of foot and lower body health products that sold products through an ecommerce site and mail-order catalog operation, which according to The Walking Co., is facing financial issues.
FootSmart will be rebuilt to offer customers a more compelling product assortment and more advanced online shopping experience, according to The Walking Company. The catalog program will immediately be suspended and excess inventory liquidated. FootSmart’s ecommerce site will be relaunched in spring ’17 on an updated platform with improved mobile capabilities and a customer loyalty program.
“We are excited to expand our business and confident this will accelerate our growth, build our omni-channel selling strategy and provide significant benefits to our customers and vendors,” said Andrew Feshbach, CEO of The Walking Company. “There is a strong alignment between our companies and customer bases, and this strategic acquisition will allow us to offer the most comprehensive product assortment and shopping experience in the comfort footwear category.”
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FootSmart will operate as a distinct business within The Walking Company portfolio.
There will be an informational meeting on the acquisition for vendors at the FN Platofrm show next week at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Aug. 15.
