ALDO Group - History

History

Aldo shoes was founded in Canada in 1972 as a footwear concession within Le Chateau. The original group included stores in Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, and Winnipeg. Aldo Bensadoun known today as a global shoe giant built his empire starting in Montreal. After four generations, the Bensadoun family continues into the shoe industry. “Mr. Bensadoun never intended to follow in the footsteps of his father, a shoe retailer in Morocco and France, or his grandfather, a cobbler in Algeria” (Strauss, 2010). Aldo Bensadoun learned Italian to better communicate with his suppliers in Italy, and eventually he cut out the middleman who serviced him between Canada and European manufacturers (Strauss, 2010). The first freestanding Aldo store was opened in Montreal, in 1978. The brand expanded in the 1980s and 1990s, with stores operating under the name Aldo across Canada. Entering in the US market was going to be a challenge, this was a market were many Canadian companies failed to prosper. “It opened one store in 1990 in the decidedly unfashionable border town of Plattsburgh, N.Y., a mere hour's drive from Aldo headquarters. The store served as a lab where Aldo tested its logistics, marketing and hiring in preparation for a broader American assault”according to Kuncharsky (2002). The first store outside of North America opened in Israel in 1995. The brand expanded in the 2000s into Saudi Arabia in 2001, England in 2002, and Singapore in 2003. Since then, the Aldo Group, with the Aldo and Call It Spring/Spring banners, has further expanded on the international market, and by the end of 2011, the company will operate more than 1600 franchises in 63 countries around the world.

In 1991, the company launched the "Transit" banner in Canada, which later became "Spring" upon launching in the U.S. Five years later, they started the "Feetfirst" banner which caters to an older clientele. Additionally the company operates "Globo Shoes" geared towards the family market. In 2008, the company began to re-brand some of its "Stoneridge" stores as "Little Burgundy" stores. The new "Little Burgundy" stores carry brand name footwear and accessories from over seventy designers.

In 2010 the company once again began to evolve when it introduced, in Canada, a new store concept called "Lōcale", which will replace the current "Feetfirst" stores. "Lōcale" is a footwear and accessories boutique-style concept store aimed at young professionals; it offers a number of brand names. The company has also revived the Pegabo brand which used to be its own chain of stores and is currently selling the brand in Feetfirst and Lōcale stores. In Spring 2011, the Pegabo brand also launched at The Bay stores in Canada.

Also during 2010, the company made major announcements which led to major expansion in the American market. The Aldo Group and JCPenney announced the launch of the Call It Spring brand which would sell as a shop-in-shop concept in JCPenney stores across the United States. The Call It Spring concept was expected to be in 600 JCPenney stores by the fall of 2011 and JCPenney would be the only department store retailer of the brand. The Aldo Group also announced that it was partnering with Kohls department stores to design and produce exclusive footwear products which would be sold under private and exclusive brand names. The new Aldo-designed products were to launch in Kohls stores for the Spring 2011 season.

The Aldo Group sources about 60 per cent of its products in China. It also has shoes made in other Asian centres as well as in Brazil, Eastern Europe and Italy.