Bakers Shoes

The story of Bakers Shoes begins not with one company, but with a retail conglomerate called Edison Brothers Stores, founded by the five Edison brothers—Sam, Harry, Mark, Irving, and Simon—in 1922. After the success of their first shoe store, Chandler's, they opened a second, more affordably priced store called Baker's in 1924. This new chain became the flagship of their rapidly expanding retail empire, which grew to include numerous shoe and clothing stores primarily located in shopping malls. For decades, Edison Brothers thrived, and Bakers became a go-to spot in malls for trendy women's footwear. The business model was a playbook of mall-based retail expansion. However, the landscape shifted, and by the late 1990s, the parent company, Edison Brothers, faced bankruptcy and was liquidated in 1999. In a twist of fate, Peter Edison, a grandson of the original founders, bought the Bakers chain out of the liquidation. He merged its operations with another shoe company he had acquired, Weiss & Neuman, and renamed the new entity Bakers Footwear Group. The company went public in 2004. But the revival was short-lived. After years of losses and declining sales in its mall-based stores, the company couldn't escape the financial pressures. In October 2012, Bakers Footwear Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Despite efforts to reorganize, the company was forced to liquidate, and by early 2013, all stores were closed.