Foot Locker Inc. announced Wednesday that the sneaker retailer will move its headquarters from New York City to Florida to escape the high costs of the Empire State.
“To better support our strategic progress, increase team collaboration, and continued cost discipline, we have made the decision to move our headquarters to St. Petersburg, Florida,” CEO Mary Dillon said in a statement.
The company said it would only maintain a limited presence in the city in the future.
Its sister brand, Champs, was previously headquartered in St. Petersburg.
The transfer is expected to be completed by late 2025.
The city has been “a center of gravity for Foot Locker for a long time.” Dillon told Bloomberg:“We’re achieving cost efficiencies over time by doing this, but we’ll continue to be in New York to maintain ties to basketball and sneaker culture.”
St. Petersburg, a city of 250,000 people near Tampa, was not an attractive hub for big business.
For example, Miami is home to billionaires like Ken Griffin and his hedge fund, Citadel.
But in 2021, Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management moved from New York City to St. Petersburg.
It also purchased the naming rights to the ARK Innovation Center — a 45,000-square-foot entrepreneurship facility — in a $2 million deal, According to St. Pete Risinga local urban development news site.
Foot Locker has a market cap of $2.8 billion, and its shares are down 4.3% so far this year.
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