The Rival Sports Retailer That Bought Foot Locker For A Ton Of Money

Foot Locker, the iconic shoe store where store employees dress as referees, was acquired by Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. in September 2025, in a purchase worth approximately $2.4 billion, according to a Dick's press release. The acquisition gave Dick's, the Pittsburgh-based retail chain that operates about 850 stores in the U.S., an empire of 2,400 stores in 20 countries, at least 665 of which are in the U.S.

Investors, though, were not initially thrilled with the news. When Dick's announced its pending deal four months prior, its stock fell more than 14%, NPR reported. After all, Foot Locker appeared to be among the popular store chains in financial turmoil when it reported declining sales and revenue in early 2025. In an effort to reverse this trend, Foot Locker decided to close some of its stores, and those store closures will continue under Dick's Sporting Goods, as the corporation moves to upgrade Foot Locker by shutting locations with poor performance, revamping the stores it leaves open, and selling off old merchandise at a discount. "We need to clean out the garage," Ed Stack, chairman of Dick's Sporing Goods, told CNBC.

By buying Foot Locker, Dick's Sporting Goods will form a $21-billion company that will have a stronger position to make deals with vendors, Retail Drive reported. The acquisition would also create up to $125 million in savings for operations in fiscal year 2026, Dick's Sporting Goods proclaimed in a statement issued via PR Newswire.  

Much like Netflix's possible deal to buy Warner Bros. Studios and HBO Max, Dick's purchase of Foot Locker is a great way to circumvent competition. That could lead to the company cutting jobs and jacking up prices, Senator Elizabeth Warren warned in a press release before the purchase.

Nevertheless, Foot Locker will operate as its own separate chain and thus continue its 130-plus-year tradition of survival. Although it officially started in 1974, Foot Locker's existence can be traced to the latter half of the 19^th century, when Frank Winfield Woolworth started Woolworth department store in 1878, and George Kinney founded Kinney Shoes in 1894. Kinney was acquired by Woolworth in 1964, per Modaes.com, and under that subsidiary sprouted three other shoe brands: Stylco, Susie Casuals, and Foot Locker.

Stylco and Susie Casual no longer exist, nor do Foot Locker's founding parent companies. Both Kinney and Woolworth were officially shuttered in the late 1990s at roughly the same time as Woolworth and Co. renamed itself as the Venator Group. Thus Dick's, a chain that was born in 1948, acquired the last remnant of Woolworth's legacy.