Brown Shoe Distribution Center To Close

The Brown Shoe Distribution Center in Fredericktown will be closing on January 31, 2010.

According to company spokesperson Erin Conroy; On November 30, we met with associates at our Fredericktown, Missouri distribution center to announce that, effective January 31, 2010, we will close that distribution center and permanently lay off the 43 associates currently employed there.  Our associates in Fredericktown are talented people who have greatly contributed to Brown Shoe’s growth, and this decision has nothing to do with their performance.  We recognize and appreciate their years of dedicated service and thank them for their hard work.

The closing in Fredericktown is part of an overall process improvement plan that involves realigning our distribution to increase the speed with which we can deliver shoes to consumers.  In March 2009 we decreased the capacity at the Fredericktown distribution center to handle return goods processing only.  After further review, we have determined the most efficient choice for our business is to close the distribution center, and we are committed to handling the closing in the right way for our Fredericktown associates, as well as for our customers, shareholders, and the communities in which we live and work. 

Fifty nine employees were laid off in the March, 2009 decision.

Brown Shoe has been an integral part of the workforce in Fredericktown since it was purchased from the Spalsbury-Steis Shoe Company in 1950. Their original building, constructed  in 1936, is now owned by Madison County Farm and Home Center, and was intially the Spalsbury, Steis and Deevers Shoe Company.  At their peak Brown Shoe  employed about 600 workers in Fredericktown. The company was founded in 1878.

http://www.brownshoe.com/history/corp-1878.asp