News

Shoe Zone expands with the acquision of Shoefayre

We acted for Shoe Zone Group in its acquisition of Shoefayre, the footwear retail business formerly owned by the Co-Operative Group. We have been working with Shoezone since 1980 when we assisted company chairman Michael Smith in buying the chain, which then consisted of 47 shops. Since then, the chain has seen a steady growth throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Shoefayre operated from over 260 stores in the UK and has a turnover of over £70 million. It has been a well established brand on the high street since 1959.
Anthony Smith, Chief Executive at Shoe Zone said “We look forward to continuing the process of returning the Shoefayre business back to profitability over the coming months”.

The combined group now has over 600 stores, annual sales of over £200 million and employs in excess of 3,000 people.

Our team was led by Roy Botterill, partner and head of our Corporate Finance and Transactions team and Lee Hennell, associate in our Retail team.

Lee said “Our retail property team is well known and we were delighted to be able to assist Shoe Zone on this strategic acquisition.”