Indiana-based Shoe Carnival to convert more stores to Shoe Station brand

Indiana-based Shoe Carnival is planning to rebrand a large number of its existing stores under its Shoe Station umbrella, the company announced in its annual earnings report Thursday.

The footwear retailer acquired Alabama-based Shoe Station Inc. in 2021 for $67 million and says the brand has been the industry’s fastest-growing retailer for the past two years.

“We completed a full year of in-market testing for our Shoe Station growth strategy, and the customer response drove results that exceeded my expectations,” Shoe Carnival CEO Mark Worden said in a news release. “Today we are announcing a new long-term strategy to expand Shoe Station from the regional market leader it is today, into a national footwear and accessories leader.”

In the last fiscal year, the Evansville-based company closed 10 underperforming Shoe Carnival stores and reopened them under the Shoe Station banner. The move resulted in a 10% growth in sales and profit, the company said.

As a result of that success, Shoe Carnival said it will transition 175 stores to the Shoe Station banner over the next two years, with the first 50 to 75 stores being completed in the first fiscal year.

It was not immediately clear which stories would be affected by the transition. A representative for Shoe Carnival did not respond to a request for more information from Inside INdiana Business.

“The company expects the long-term prospects of this strategy to result in significant market share growth in areas where the company has underperformed with its Shoe Carnival concept,” the company said in its earnings report. The Shoe Station rebanner strategy is expected to create significant financial leverage from a more productive store base.”

While the total financial investment was not specifically disclosed, the company noted that it is forecasting a decrease in operating income of $44 million to $52 million over the two-year period.

Shoe Carnival is Indiana’s 26th-largest public company with $1.2 billion in revenue in 2023, according to IBJ research. The company employs about 2,300 people across its entire footprint, though it was not clear if the new initiative would have any impact on jobs.

There are 22 Shoe Carnival stores in Indiana, including four stores in the Indianapolis area. The company operates a total of 431 stores—346 under the Shoe Carnival brand, 57 Shoe Station stores and 28 stores under the Rogan’s banner, which Shoe Carnival acquired last year.

Shoe Carnival reported a fiscal full-year net profit of $73.8 million in 2024, which was relatively flat compared to the previous year. Net sales for the year totaled $1.2 billion, up 2.3% from 2023, the company said.

“We achieved the very top end of our annual profit guidance and drove solid sales growth despite a challenging economic landscape,” Worden said. “For the 20th consecutive year, we ended the year with no debt and cash flow generation that fully funded our growth initiatives, acquisitions, and operations.”