• July 31, 2007

Foot Locker, Inc. is limping. The New York-based sneaker retailer now says it will report a loss in its second quarter, due to its aggressive clearance strategy, and that same-store sales for the quarter will likely fall between 7 and 8%. It also said it would roughly double the number of unprofitable stores it plans to close this year, shuttering about 250 U.S. locations.

Plans to open up to 30 new stores in Europe in 2008 are still on track.

The company also says it will promote Keith Daly, currently president and CEO of Foot Locker Europe, to president and CEO of Foot Locker U.S. with responsibility for the company's Foot Locker, Footaction and Kids Foot Locker stores in the U.S. He will be replaced by Dick Johnson, president and CEO of Footlocker.com.

Foot Locker, which was rebuffed in its takeover offer for Genesco earlier this spring, also confirmed that it has hired Lehman Brothers as an advisor to work with the company to evaluate "strategic alternatives."

In May, the company said it expects to open up to 50 "House of Hoops by Foot Locker" with Nike Inc., in the next three years. The first House of Hoops store is expected to open in early 2008 on 125th Street in New York, converting an existing Foot Locker location in Harlem.

--Sarah Mahoney