The Walking Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Dog Holdings, Inc. has agreed to acquire substantially all the assets of Steve's Shoes, Inc. for approximately $4.2 million in a bankruptcy auction. Steve's Shoes is one of the largest independent comfort shoe retailers in the country. Steve's Shoes operates 45 stores in 22 states, primarily in the Midwest, under the store names Steve's Shoes, Overland Trading Co., and Sole Outdoors. The company had total annual sales of approximately $35 million.
Steve's Shoes was founded 67 years ago and grew from one store in Kansas City to 78 stores across the nation. As a result of their aggressive expansion and other factors, Steve's Shoes eventually declared bankruptcy a few weeks ago. The Walking Company has agreed to acquire at least 35 of the stores and has retained the right to accept, assign or reject the ten remaining stores after a 90-day trial period.
Andrew Feshbach, Chief Executive Officer, stated, “This is a good add-on acquisition for us, further implementing our expansion strategy for The Walking Company. We look forward to converting these stores to Walking Company stores. We will immediately bring financial strength to the organization and look to achieve significant operating leverage and cost savings by more fully utilizing The Walking Company's systems, distribution infrastructure, and experienced management team.”
