Foot Locker Inc. is buying two smaller retailers for a total of approximately $1.1 billion in separate cash deals, as the company looks to expand its reach beyond U.S. shopping malls.
The New York-based company Monday announced the acquisitions of athletic retailer WSS for $750 million and Atmos, a Japan-based streetwear and sneaker shop, for $360 million. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported Foot Locker was close to making both deals.
The acquisition of Los Angeles-based WSS, which generated $425 million in revenue in 2020, gives Foot Locker access to a large Latino customer base, an important and fast-growing demographic, Foot Locker executives said.
The deal “strengthens the strategic imperatives that we have to spread our business and find new customers and new consumer markets,” Foot Locker CEO Richard Johnson said in an interview. The deals are expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
Additional brick and mortar locations are likely in the future of both brands, which will continue to operate under their existing names, he said. “We absolutely believe that there are underserved markets in the U.S. that we’ll be able to expand WSS into,” Mr. Johnson said. “Atmos is mostly a digitally-led business, but we believe every great city has a sneaker market that could be the location of an Atmos store in the future.”
