Payless ShoeSource is a discount footwear retailer that was founded in 1956 in Topeka, Kansas. Shaol Pozez and his cousin Louis Pozez founded and operated Payless Shoes. In 1961, it became a public company as the Volume Shoe Corporation. In 1979, Volume Shoe merged with the May Department Stores Company. In the 1980s, Payless was widely known in the U.S. for its Pro Sprints line of discount sneakers, which often had Velcro straps instead of laces. In 1996, Payless ShoeSource became an independent, publicly held company. On August 17, 2007, the company acquired The Stride Rite Corporation, and changed its name to Collective Brands, Inc.[1] It is currently the 98th-largest retailer in America.

Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE: FL) is an American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in New York City, and operating in approximately 20 countries worldwide. Formerly known as Venator Group, Inc., it is the successor corporation to the F.W. Woolworth Company (“Woolworth’s”). Foot Locker, Inc. operates the eponymous “Foot Locker” chain of athletic footwear retail outlets (along with “Kids Foot Locker” and “Lady Foot Locker” stores), Champs Sports, Footaction USA, and Eastbay/Footlocker.com own the rights to Final Score, ESPN Shop, AFL Store, and The United States Olympic Shop. The chain is known for its employees uniforms resembling those of referees.

In 1963, Woolworth purchased the Kinney Shoe Corporation and operated it as a subsidiary. In the 1960s, Kinney branched into specialty shoe stores, including Stylco in 1967, Susie Casuals in 1968, and Foot Locker in 1974.

Woolworth also diversified its portfolio of specialty stores in the 1980s, including Afterthoughts, Northern Reflections, and Champs Sports. By 1989, the company was pursuing an aggressive strategy of multiple specialty store formats targeted at enclosed shopping malls. The idea was that if a particular concept failed at a given mall, the company could quickly replace it with a different concept. The company aimed for 10 stores in each of the country's major shopping malls, but this never came to pass as Woolworth never developed that many successful specialty store formats.

In 1988, the F.W. Woolworth Company incorporated a separate company called the "Woolworth Corporation" in the state of New York. The Woolworth Corporation was responsible for the operations of the Foot Locker stores, among the other specialty chains operated by Woolworth's. One of its first moves was the acquisition of Champs Sports and renamed itself the Woolworth Athletic Group.