• Full-year pre-tax profits slide 3.4% to £10.1m 
  • Sales slip 3.5% to £166.8m
  • Shoe Zone will trial new bigger store format 

Shoe Zone has suffered a slide in full-year profits after sales fell amid “difficult” trading conditions for the footwear industry.

Pre-tax profits in the year to October 3 fell 3.4% to £10.1m, the retailer said.  

Shoe Zone said sales slid by 3.5% to £166.8m due to the ”planned closure of loss making stores and difficult trading conditions”.

Shoe Zone ended the year with 535 stores, having opened 18 and closed 28 during the period.

In this year’s first quarter, chief executive Anthony Smith said trading has been “challenging, amid the well documented high street trading conditions for clothing and footwear retailers.” 

Meanwhile, the retailer also revealed plans to trial a new bigger store format from August, with sites twice the size of its normal shops.

The test - called “Project Big Box” - will involve three stores stocking “an extended product range and higher priced footwear”.

Smith said: “This trial will create a strong avenue for new growth outside of Shoe Zone’s traditional portfolio.”

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