Last Friday, a major merger in Europe’s shoe retailing was...

Last Friday, a major merger in Europe’s shoe retailing was announced: Ariston-Nord-West-Ring has acquired 70 percent of Garant Schuh + Mode and is about to make an offer to the other shareholders of the buying group. ANWR is the owner of Sport 2000 in Switzerland and Germany and hosts the operations of Sport 2000 International. The new alliance combines 4,230 shoe retailers and nearly 1,200 sporting goods retailers. ANWR says that it is eyeing a co-operation between Sport 2000 and Fair Play, Garant’s sports retail organization from 2011 on. The German shoe buying groups have recently become increasingly active in the outdoor business: ANWR now even hosts special in-house shows to promote the outdoor segment among its affiliated retailers (Read more in THE COMPASS’ sister publication, Shoe Intelligence).