Say goodbye to famed footwear store Florsheim.
The new owners – headed by the grandson of founder Milton Florsheim – plan on shuttering the shops and concentrating on the wholesale business.
In a one-two punch yesterday, the shoe manufacturer and seller has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and agreed to sell most of the company’s assets to Weyco Group, Inc., a moderate shoe company, managed by relatives of Florsheim’s founder.
The new owners plan to transform Florsheim from a wholesaler and retailer to just a wholesaler. Consequently, some 132 of the company’s stores will be closed, a company spokesman said, though the specifics have not been determined. The company currently operates 198 specialty and outlet stores, two of which are in Manhattan.
Weyco will pay approximately $44.8 million in cash for the assets and will assume certain trade and lease liabilities, valuing the purchase at about $47.3 million.
The deal proves that what goes around comes around.
Weyco’s President and CEO Thomas Florsheim is the grandson of Florsheim Group founder Milton Florsheim.
“It confuses a lot of people,” Thomas Florsheim told The Post. His father, Thomas Sr., left Florsheim when the family sold the company almost 50 years ago. He moved to Milwaukee (from Chicago) and bought into a company called Weinberg Shoe that eventually became Weyco.
“It’s neat that it’s happening now,” Florsheim said. “It’s a good fit with our company. We’re a moderate priced shoe company and this gives us a way in above that price point.” And, he added, “It’s nice to have the name back – it’s a neat story.”
The Florsheim Group has been in dire financial straits for the past four years, with the company’s shares diving 93 percent in the past year alone. The company was delisted from the Nasdaq small cap listings last month.