The Walking Company closed its acquisition of substantially all the assets of Natural Comfort Footwear, Inc. effective Jan. 15. Natural Comfort, an independent comfort shoe retailer in Florida, has eight stores operating under the names Natural Comfort and Martini’s. The stores acquired will be converted to The Walking Company stores.

The deal boosts TWC’s presence in Florida from 18 to 26 stores and boosts TWC’s nationwide store count to 185. The stores sell ECCO, Mephisto, Dansko, UGG, Keen, Merrell and other shoes.

TWC is owned by Big Dog Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded company that also owns Big Dogs, which develops, markets and retails its own brand of activewear, casual sportswear, accessories and gifts and operates 108 stores. Big Dog Holdings announced in November that it would change its name to The Walking Company Holdings Inc. early this year to reflect to growing dominance of its retail footwear business.