Caleres-owned retail chain Famous Footwear, which generated 22 percent sales growth in FY22 to more than $1.32 billion despite closing 21 stores year-over-year, is sharpening its focus on reaching Millennial consumers. The 873-door chain, whose annual comparable store sales declined by 1.8 percent last year, intends to align its product assortment, store experience, digital presence, and marketing approach to families whose heads of household range from 27 to 42 years old. Famous has already remodeled 11 stores to better reach this demographic and intends to overhaul at least two dozen more locations to the format in H2 at a cost of $650,000 to $700,000 per door.

Meanwhile, Famous, whose Q4 operating profit declined 56 percent to $24.4 million on essentially flat sales of $402.3 million, intends to continue enhancing its footwear assortment to be more balanced between athletic and fashion. Business started off slow in November with sales falling high single digits before rebounding sharply in mid-December and exceeding demand during the final six weeks of the quarter. Kids’ footwear sales rose by 9 percent in Q4 and by 23 percent during the period’s last month-and-a-half.

The retailer generated 9 percent sales growth in Caleres-owned footwear brands in the period ended Jan. 28 as it has experienced “outsized performance and robust demand” from the Sam Edelman, Vionic, Alan Edmonds, and Naturalizer labels in recent years. Caleres’ brand portfolio generated a 213 percent increase in annual operating profit to more than $112.3 million in FY22 as segment sales expanded by 22 percent to more than $1.32 billion.