Tokmanni acquires two Finnish footwear store chains – One of the aims is to increase market share in the apparel product category
Tokmanni Press release 10 February 2023 at 8:15 a.m.
Tokmanni has concluded an agreement on acquiring the entire share capital of the Finnish footwear store chains Click Shoes Oy and Shoe House Oy. The two companies have a total of 29 stores across Finland and an online store at www.clickshoes.fi. The combined revenue of Click Shoes and Shoe House totalled nearly ten million euros in the financial year that ended in December 2021. Ownership of the companies will be transferred to Tokmanni on 1 March 2023. The transaction price will not be disclosed.
Click Shoes Oy was founded in 2001 and its product offering focuses on women’s and men’s footwear. It sells products from, for example, many well-known international brands, including Bugatti, Dockers and Rieker. The store chain also has its own footwear brand, 2Moons.
Shoe House Oy was established in 2008 and it has mainly operated as a sourcing company for the products sold in the stores of Click Shoes Oy. Many customers are also familiar with the Shoe House chain stores located in Turku and at the Jumbo-Flamingo shopping and entertainment centre in Vantaa. The Shoe House stores differentiate themselves from those of Click Shoes through their larger selections and more impressive product displays.
Click Shoes and Shoe House, which were sold to Tokmanni by their owner, entrepreneur Tommi Lehtinen, employ around one hundred retail professionals in total. The companies’ current employees will remain employed under their existing employment contracts.
A natural addition for Tokmanni
Click Shoes and Shoe House are excellently suited to Tokmanni’s portfolio, according to Mika Rautiainen, President and CEO of Tokmanni.
“We are very excited about adding Click Shoes and Shoe House as part of Tokmanni. In future, we will have even better opportunities to increase our footwear sales and our market share in the apparel product category.”
“Tommi Lehtinen, the owner of Click Shoes and Shoe House, and his personnel have carried out excellent work together in building Finland’s leading shoe store chain. We warmly welcome all these professionals who have worked in the footwear business to Tokmanni.”
With the acquisition of Click Shoes and Shoe House, Tokmanni will also gain new competence in the footwear and accessory business. Tommi Lehtinen and his team will reinforce Tokmanni by bringing their expertise in footwear and in running a successful business.
“It quickly became clear in our negotiations that our corporate cultures are very similar. We aim for cost-efficient and agile operations and to offer high-quality products at low prices, just like Tokmanni does,” Lehtinen says.
“We are really excited about this wonderful new opportunity. Following this transaction, the scale of our product ranges and sourcing volumes will grow exponentially. It means we’ll be able to expand our footwear selection further and to offer our customers the footwear they need through a nationwide network of stores,” he adds.
Familiar brand names will be maintained
Tokmanni plans to continue the operations of Click Shoes and Shoe House under their current brand names. Click Shoes’ online store will also continue its operations. In future, the intention is to introduce products familiar from Click Shoes and Shoe House to Tokmanni stores as well.
“Click Shoes and Shoe House have achieved great success in the Finnish footwear market, demonstrating that customers prefer to shop with Finnish companies,” Rautiainen says.
“The stores of Click Shoes and Shoe House are located in very prominent commercial locations. Their high customer satisfaction, for example, has strengthened our view of their success, the good price-to-quality ratio of their product offering and the professional skill of their personnel,” he adds.
TOKMANNI
For further information, please contact:
Mika Rautiainen
President and CEO
Tel. +358 20 728 6061
mika.rautiainen(at)tokmanni.fi
Maarit Mikkonen
Head of IR and Communications
Tel. +358 40 562 2282
maarit.mikkonen(at)tokmanni.fi
Calls to a corporate number beginning with +358 20 7 from a landline or a mobile phone are EUR 0.0835 per minute + EUR 0.1669 per minute (incl. VAT 24%). Calls from outside Finland are subject to an international call charge.
Tokmanni is Finland’s leading variety discount retailer. Some 4,200 Tokmanni employees make customers’ everyday life and special occasions easier by offering a versatile and up-to-date assortment of Finnish and international brand-name products and other high-quality products at prices that are always affordable. With around 200 stores around Finland and an online store, Tokmanni is always close to its customers. In 2022, Tokmanni’s revenue was EUR 1,168 million, and its comparable EBIT amounted to EUR 86 million. Tokmanni’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.
