Freeman, Hardy and Willis was a major chain of footwear retailers in the United Kingdom.

History

The shoe retailer was established in 1875 and was named after three employees of the company, one of whom was Alfred Freeman, a Russian shoe maker who resided in

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in north London. It was originally a medieval ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the area it covered now forms around ...

. For many years, there was a branch in nearly every town in the United Kingdom. In 1929 the company was acquired by Sears plc. Its subsidiary, the

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

-based British Shoe Corporation, went on to own the Trueform, Curtess, Dolcis, Manfield, Saxone, and

Lilley & Skinner Lilley & Skinner was a British mid-market shoe brand, manufacturer, retailer and wholesale distributor of their own and others' boots and shoes and associated chain of high street shoe shops. It was also active in wholesale leather distribution. ...

brands. The name was also simplified to Freeman Hardy Willis in order to have bolder lettering on shopfronts. During the early 1960s the paper bags used to wrap the shoes were imprinted with the FHW letters and the legend "For Happy Walking".

Sale of company

In the early 1990s the British Shoe Corporation converted approximately half of the 540 Freeman Hardy Willis branches into

Hush Puppies Hush Puppies is an American brand of casual footwear. A division of Wolverine World Wide, Hush Puppies is headquartered in Rockford, Michigan. Wolverine also licenses the Hush Puppies name for apparel, toys and accessories. Hush Puppies uses a ...

shops and sold the remainder to

Stephen Hinchliffe Stephen Leonard Hinchliffe (born 2 January 1950, in Sheffield) is an English businessman from Sheffield who was the founder of the former retail empire Facia group, which had up to 850 stores before it collapsed in 1996. He has been a director of ...

, an entrepreneur from Sheffield. After only a year, Hinchliffe's business empire collapsed. He was subsequently jailed after it was found that he bribed bank officials to obtain loans to buy the company. After providing "Shoes For All The Family" since 1875, Freeman Hardy Willis was no more by 1996. After closure, 44 former FHW branches were sold to

Stead & Simpson Shoe Zone (stylised as shoezone) is a footwear retailer in the United Kingdom which sells shoes at low prices. It has over 410 stores in different cities and towns throughout the UK and Ireland and over 2,854 employees. The company has an annual ...

. British Shoe Corporation itself closed in 1998. In more recent years, the Freeman Hardy & Willis name has reappeared online, now owned b
Gardiner Bros & Co (Leathers) Ltd

References

External links

* * {{PM20, FID=co/070416, TEXT=Documents and clippings about, NAME= Companies based in Leicestershire Retail companies established in 1875 Retail companies disestablished in 1996 Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom Shoe companies of the United Kingdom Footwear retailers