Dick’s Sporting Goods initiates layoffs at Foot Locker

Nearly a year on from its acquisition of Foot Locker, parent company Dick’s Sporting Goods has begun a series of layoffs within the operations of the sportswear retailer.

The news was confirmed to Footwear News by unnamed sources. FashionUnited has contacted Dick’s with a request to comment.

Some employees were reportedly asked to ‘return to office’ in Foot Locker’s New York headquarters this week or in Florida for Champs Sports. Others were asked to relocate, however, the number of those impacted is currently unknown.

Speaking to Footwear News, Matt Powell, advisor at Spurwink River, acknowledged that, like most mergers and acquisitions, redundancies, particularly in back of house, were expected.

He noted, however, that the integration of Foot Locker into the Dick’s business had “gone better than expected”.

Dick’s pursued a takeover of Foot Locker last year, marking a new venture into international waters for the American retailer and a new home for the ailing footwear specialist, which had been facing widening losses.

At the time of the acquisition, Dick’s said it had identified opportunities to align the strengths of the two brands, leveraging their differentiated retail formats, global scale, and existing brand partnerships.

In the FY25 report of Dick’s, executive chairman Edward Stack said the recent pilot phase of a simplified merchandising concept at 11 Foot Locker stores had been successful, prompting the planned roll out across 250 other locations across the US and Europe later this year.