Getting deep inside the fiscal 2027 first quarter business details at Genesco, Inc. on an analyst conference call on Friday, May 29, Mimi Vaughn, Board chair, president and CEO, Genesco, Inc., parent of Journeys Group, told analysts that Journeys is benefiting from moves to elevate product offerings to reach a broader teen demographic centered around the “style-led teen girl” but also from broad-based healthy demand across sandals, boots, low-profile and lifestyle running.
“We’ve been talking a lot about how there’s opportunity to serve this teen girl that we’re serving with both fashion, athletic and casual and Journeys is really well positioned to take advantage of this,” said Vaughn. “And growth is coming from multiple places that we’ve seen that we had the opportunity to build on.”
She said both athletic lifestyle and casual “achieved healthy growth.” Some iconic footwear franchises “have been doing well,” including some that have benefited from extensions into different colors, patterns or materials. She cited the Adidas Samba as “a great example of that. We have seen that lots of extensions of things that have been working well.”
The sandal business, according to Vaughn, has been “just on fire this spring” despite a late arrival of spring weather. She added that low-profile is “gaining a lot of traction” and cited ballerinas and Mary Janes styles among “emerging” trends. Journeys is also capitalizing on “new trends in boots as well and certain shoe silhouettes,” Vaughn said.
Among newer brands, Vaughn noted that Journeys has benefited from the introduction of Hoka and reintroduction of Nike in 2025. Nike had not been selling to Journeys since 2013.
Vaughn stated, “So there’s just lots to choose from right now. There’s no one thing that I would call out, but what is really encouraging is just the diversity of different opportunities across the assortment, across the brand mix.”
Also helping drive sales gains at Journeys is continued success at its 4.0 prototype stores, which features a more premium setting and elevated brand presentation. Vaughn said the recent conversions to the 4.0 format are generating in excess of a 25 percent sales lift. Journeys opened 21 new 4.0 stores in the quarter and has completed 105 conversions to date. Vaughn said, “4.0’s becoming an increasingly greater driver of performance.”
While Journeys stores performed well, the e-commerce business was also healthy, posting double-digit growth in the first quarter.
From a profitability perspective, Journeys’ push to elevate assortments across brands and categories drove stronger full price selling and “considerably higher” average transaction size in the quarter. She said, “We’re outpacing the broader footwear market and continue to see market share gains at Journeys where we’re gaining traction as the destination for the style-led teen girl as a result of our ongoing transformation momentum.”
The 5 percent same-store growth was on top of an 8 percent gain a year ago. Total sales at Journeys Group reached $285.3 million in the quarter, up 4.6 percent from $272.6 million a year ago. Journeys’ net store count was reduced to 940 at the close of the quarter, down from 989 at the same time a year ago.
Journeys Group’s operating loss shrunk to $11.6 million from $15.3 million a year ago. Vaughn said store closures and cost efficiencies created a 190 basis points of expense leverage.
Looking ahead, Journeys is expected to see continued growth this year. Said Vaughn, “Upcoming initiatives are heavily focused on back to school and include leaning into current product trends with continued growth across both athletic and casual, including lifestyle running, low profile and sandals from the diversified mix of existing and new brands that have been driving the business.”
Journeys is planning a “substantial increase” in media spend in support of a “Life on Loud” back-to-school campaign featuring multiple celebrities and influencers to increase brand awareness and reach new customers. The brand will also undergo 90 4.0 conversions overall this year, double the prior year’s rate.
Other initiatives for Journeys include new product feed enhancements utilizing Agentic AI search, trialing an online shopping agent, and releasing the next iteration of its All Access loyalty program, which currently has close to 11 million members.
Vaughn further said Journeys will continue its recent focus on a “wider teen audience interested in style and trend” that Genesco estimates is six to seven times larger than the market Journeys traditionally served with its past focus on vulcanized and casual shoes. She added while Journeys offers unisex styles, the focus is particularly on the teen girl who is “really well served for apparel in the mall, but who is very underserved as far as footwear goes.” Vaughn added that Journeys’ increasingly diversified offerings are on-trend with female teens. She said, “She’s interested in changing her look from one day to the next and looking for a diversified set of brands to be able to do that.”
Image courtesy Journeys Group / Genesco, Inc.
See below for additional details and coverage of the Schuh Group and Johnston & Murphy for fiscal 2027 business at Genesco, Inc.
