Munro Shoes to Shutter After 52 Years
Stephen Garner
Senior Editor
Arkansas-based footwear company Munro Shoes is shutting down, FN has learned.
According to a message posted on the company’s e-commerce site, Munro is set to close its operations in the near future.
“With heavy hearts, we are sad to announce that after 52 years of designing, developing and manufacturing high quality size and width footwear, Munro will cease operations in early 2025,” the company wrote. “Therefore, all purchases after midnight, December 31, 2024, are final sale.”
Munro added that returns for purchases made before the end of last year must be received in its distribution center by Feb. 14. “Munro & Company and the Munro family appreciate your support of our brand over the years, and we will truly miss you,” the company added.
FN has reached out to Munro for further comment.
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Munro Shoes got its start in 1959 when its founder, the late Robert Malcolm “Don” Munro, moved to Hot Springs, Ark. and established the original Lake Catherine Footwear, which was a division of a New Hampshire-based shoe manufacturer.
In 1972, Mr. Munro purchased the Arkansas division of the company and established Munro & Company, Inc. After decades of ownership his five-children purchased the company, where three of them managed the daily operations.
According to the company’s website, the leaders of the brand are Bruce Munro, chief executive officer; Mollie Munro, chief operating officer; and Christine Munro, vice president and director of sales.
Today, the women’s size and width footwear company’s design and product development departments are at the Fred Young Center in Hot Springs, Ark., home of its corporate office and distribution center.
In 2022, founder Don Munro died at the age of 94. His business accomplishments were many, and garnered the respect of his peers, as evidenced by his election as president of the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) in 2003, his induction into FN’s Footwear Hall of Fame at the 2004 FNAAs, and induction into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame in 2005.
But it was his philanthropic endeavors for which he will be most remembered. In 1985, he was awarded the T. Kenyon Holly Award, the highest philanthropic honor in the shoe industry. In 1992 he became the first recipient of the Pew Foundation’s American Philanthropy Award. Also in 1992, he was awarded the Roots and Wings Award and the Lugean Chilcote Award from the Arkansas Community Foundation, which he led as president for ten years.
