Brown Shoe headquarters to remain in St. Louis

Brown Shoe Co. Inc. is keeping its headquarters in St. Louis, relocating its Famous Footwear division from Madison, Wis., redeveloping its Clayton office complex and relocating or creating 500 to 700 new jobs in St. Louis over the next several years.

Brown Shoe was considering whether to expand at its current headquarters site in the 8000 block of Maryland Avenue in Clayton, to move elsewhere in the St. Louis region, or to move out of state. Brown Shoe had scouted real estate in both Dallas and Madison.

The company said all of the approximately 270 Madison-based employees will be offered jobs and relocation assistance. Those employees who choose to stay in Madison will be offered severance packages including at least one and a half weeks of compensation per year of employment, with a minimum of four weeks; outplacement assistance; and job fairs.

Brown Shoe expects the Famous Footwear division relocation to be substantially completed by the end of the third quarter. The company expects to incur pre-tax expenses of $25 million to $30 million, or 37 cents to 44 cents per diluted share, to implement the transition. Famous Footwear is one of the largest footwear retailers with 1,100 stores nationwide.

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