Just For Feet

Just For Feet was a publically-owned athletic shoe and sportswear retail chain headquartered Birmingham that closed its last stores in 2004.

History

Harold Ruttenberg started his first sportswear store as Hang Ten Sports World (or possibly Two Feet Ahead; reports vary) in Century Plaza in 1977. After his rent increased again in 1986, Ruttenberg closed the store. He then came up with the concept of opening a large, freestanding store dedicated primarily to athletic footwear. The result was the first Just For Feet superstore, which opened on the perimeter of the Riverchase Galleria in 1988. Just For Feet operated over 140 superstores in 25 U.S. states and Puerto Rico by 1999. Most of the Just For Feet stores were located on outparcels adjoining major malls in cities, primarily in the Southeast, Midwest and Southwest.

Just For Feet superstore

Several features helped to distinguish Just for Feet from its competitors, including:

• A small basketball court, either inside the store or in a fenced courtyard outside.
• A large bank of video monitors located near the front of the store, where customers could watch live sporting events
• Loud rock and dance music pumped into the store
• A repeat customer program which enabled customers to receive a free pair of shoes after the purchase of 12 pairs
• An in-store fast-food snack bar featuring Chicago-style hot dogs and popcorn
• A complete selection of footwear styles from virtually every major athletic shoe supplier, as well as casual footwear from companies such as Rockport, Keds, Tretorn and Timberland
• A large selection of clearance footwear, called the "Combat Zone" and located at the front of the store, where value-oriented customers could purchase discontinued styles of shoes, often as low as $9.99 or $19.99
• Vendor concept shops, where customers could examine the complete footwear line of vendors such as Nike, Reebok, New Balance and Adidas. In many cases, the concept shops also featured active wear such as shorts, t-shirts and warm-up suits from those vendors
• "Moonlight Madness" sales, usually conducted around Christmas, where the store would be open extended hours and offer customers outstanding bargains

Growth in the 1990s

In 1992 a store was opened at The Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas, Nevada. Prior to becoming a publicly traded company in 1994, other company-owned stores were opened near Nashville, Tennessee and in Kansas City, Missouri. Franchises were granted for stores that opened in San Antonio, Texas, suburban Atlanta, Georgia and Columbus, Ohio; the Texas and Georgia stores subsequently became company-owned locations. By the end of 1996, Just For Feet operated superstores in eleven states.

In 1997, Just For Feet bought Florida-based Athletic Attic and Michigan-based Imperial Sports, enabling the company to enter numerous markets (and several states) where it previously had no presence. The 1998 acquisition of New Jersey-based Sneaker Stadium, and the subsequent conversion of those stores to the Just For Feet nameplate, enabled the company to expand into the metropolitan areas of New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. These acquisitions enabled the company to to become the second largest athletic footwear retailer near the end of the 20th century. One of the slogans the store used to position itself was “The World’s Largest Athletic Footwear Store”.

Super Bowl ad controversy

Just For Feet ran an ad during the 1999 Super Bowl in which a Humvee of white men tracks a Kenyan runner. The men offer the runner a cup of water spiked with a sedative; the runner collapses, and the men force a pair of Nike sneakers onto his feet. The runner wakes up, screams, and runs away, attempting to shake the shoes off.

The ad immediately generated a backlash; Stuart Elliot, advertising columnist for the New York Times, called it "appallingly insensitive" [1] while others accused it of racism. Just For Feet later sued its ad agency, Saatchi and Saatchi, alleging that they had relied on the expertise of the advertising agency against their initial negative reactions to the spot. Just For Feet later dropped the lawsuit. [2]

Bankruptcy and acquisition

In November 1999, Just For Feet filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and in February 2000, the company was forced into Chapter 7. Footstar, Inc., at that time the parent company of Footaction USA, purchased the Just For Feet name and the leases of over 70 of its stores in February 2000. [3]. Those stores that remained opened continued to do business under the Just For Feet name until Footstar itself filed for Chapter 7 protection in 2003. By 2004, the last of the Just For Feet stores closed.

Birmingham locations

This list is incomplete.

• Colonial Brookwood Village
• Riverchase Galleria (perimeter) (1988-?)
• Riverchase Galleria (inside, lower level)
• River Ridge Plaza, U.S. Highway 280 2002 - 2004

References

• Just For Feet. (January 16, 2007). [4] Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 17:27, January 16, 2007.
• Just For Feet, Inc. (2006). [5] International Directory of Company Histories. The Gale Group. Accessed January 16, 2007.
• Goodman, Sherri C. (December 28, 2005). "Harold Ruttenberg dies at 63." The Birmingham News.