JD Sports, the publicly traded British parent of Finish Line, Shoe Palace and DTLR, besides its namesake nameplate, intends to open 500 to 600 new JD Sports stores in North America over the next five years through a combination of opening new stores and converting the remaining 392 Finish Line locations to JD Sports banners. The company ended its most recent fiscal year on Jan. 28 with 138 JD Sports stores on the continent, up from 89 a year earlier that included flagship doors in New York and Chicago, 10 in Canada and 15 Finish Line conversions.

JD intends to retain the Finish Line name for its Macy’s business with a product assortment focused on families. Divisional sales were flat year-over-year at $344.4 million as the 289 locations realized a 12-percent decline in annual profitability to $54.9 million.

Overall, the company described its 2022 business in North Americas as a tale of ‘two halves’ with the first half negatively impacted by supply chain challenges that reduced the availability of key styles with the second six months posting improved sellthrough rates. North America remains JD’s “most significant market in premium Sports Fashion in terms of revenues,” the company said.

Total North American sales rose 7.6 percent to $3,834.7 million for the 12 months ended Jan. 28. Annual gross margin dipped slightly to 48.8 percent from 49.8 percent. Generated net profit from all market formats, equaling 1,244 locations, fell by 11.0 percent to $448.2 million from $505.4 million. The Finish Line/JD business posted a 15.2 percent drop in annual profit to $251.0 million despite 3.9 percent revenue growth to $2,219.6 million.

Elsewhere, the Shoe Palace and DTLR chains continue to make progress under JD ownership. Shoe Palace, which opened seven new stores to bring its total to 173, posted an 8.3 percent improvement in profit to $85.2 million on a 10.3 percent increase in annual revenues to $590.9 million. DTLR, acquired in mid-March 2021, ended the year with 244 locations, $65.1 million in annual profit, and $627.1 million in total revenues.