Global sportswear retailer Foot Locker will move its headquarters to St. Petersburg next year.
The announcement comes nearly three years after the St. Petersburg City Council voted to lure a Fortune 500 company – reportedly Foot Locker – to the city with a $475,000 incentive package and the possibility of future property tax exemptions. In return, the company would have had to bring 300 new jobs to St. Pete and pay an average wage of $120,000.
Mike Swesey, CEO of the St. Petersburg Area Economic Development Corporation, declined to comment on the specific incentives that attracted Foot Locker this time. A spokesman for St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch’s office said Foot Locker was offered an incentive package to come to the city. The City Council will vote on that deal next month.
A spokesman for Pinellas County Economic Development said a resolution passed by the county commission in 2021 allowing Foot Locker to apply for a property tax exemption is still in effect.
Mary Dillon, Foot Locker’s president and CEO, said on a conference call Wednesday morning that the move builds on a “significant leadership and retail presence” in St. Petersburg. The company will maintain a limited presence in New York, where it is currently headquartered, Dillon said.
In a statement, Welch said Foot Locker’s move will create 150 or more jobs in the area.
Foot Locker will be the fourth headquarters of a Fortune 500 company in Pinellas County, joining Jabil, Raymond James and TD Synnex, a statement said.
“Foot Locker is such a good fit for St. Pete,” Swesey said in a statement. “Foot Locker’s creative focus on its young, diverse customer base reflects the creativity and diversity found here, and we’re a city where people wear sneakers both in the boardroom and by the bay, so we welcome our new sneaker-loving neighbors.”
Foot Locker reported a net loss of $12 million in its second-quarter earnings release. The company opened five stores in the last three months and closed 31.
