Rack Room Shoes
Rack Room Shoes is an American footwear retailer headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company was founded in 1920 in Salisbury, North Carolina by Phil Levinson, who sold it to his son-in-law, Mort Lerner. It was bought in 1984 by the privately held Deichmann Group of Germany. Until that time Rack Room Shoes ran 22 stores.
Rack Room now operates over 450 stores in 34 states under the names Rack Room Shoes and Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse. Rack Room Shoes bought Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse in 2002. The Atlanta-based Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse had been formed in the early 1980s. It competed with Rack Room at the lower end of the market but claimed to have a trendier selection. Rack Room, however, maintained that its European ownership kept it on top of footwear trends. Off Broadway continues to operate independently after the acquisition with 30 stores in the East Coast and Midwest regions, and in California.
