Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Business Overview
Foot Locker, Inc. leads the celebration of sneaker and youth culture around the globe through a portfolio of banners including Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, Eastbay, Footaction, and Sidestep. Foot Locker, Inc. and its subsidiaries hereafter are referred to as the “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us.” We operate primarily mall-based stores, as well as stores in high-traffic urban retail areas and high streets, in 27 countries including the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. Our purpose is to inspire and empower youth culture around the world by fueling a shared passion for self-expression and creating unrivaled experiences at the heart of the global sneaker community.
We use our omni-channel capabilities to bridge the digital world and physical stores, including order-in-store, buy online and pickup-in-store, and buy online and ship-from-store, as well as e-commerce. We operate websites and mobile apps aligned with the names of our store banners including: footlocker.com, ladyfootlocker.com, kidsfootlocker.com, champssports.com, footaction.com, footlocker.ca, footlocker.eu (and related e-commerce sites in the various European countries that we operate), footlocker.com.au, sidestep-shoes.com, footlocker.hk, footlocker.sg, and footlocker.my. These sites offer some of the largest online product selections and provide a seamless link between e-commerce and physical stores. We also operate the websites for eastbay.com, final-score.com, and eastbayteamsales.com.
Store Count
At October 31, 2020, we operated 3,032 stores as compared with 3,129 and 3,160 stores at February 1, 2020 and November 2, 2019, respectively.
Franchise Operations
A total of 126 franchised stores were operating at October 31, 2020, as compared with 139 and 138 stores at February 1, 2020 and November 2, 2019, respectively. Revenue from franchised stores was not significant for any of the periods presented. These stores are not included in the operating store count above.
COVID-19 Update
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China. In March 2020, the World Health Organization designated COVID-19 a pandemic. COVID-19 is having a significant effect on overall economic conditions in nearly all regions around the world and resulted in travel restrictions and business slowdowns or shutdowns. In March, we closed all our stores in North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and most of Asia Pacific. We also transitioned to a work-from-home environment for all our office team members and temporarily closed certain of our distribution centers. Our stores remained closed for a significant portion of the first quarter. We continue to monitor our openings in accordance with local government guidelines and operated for approximately 95 percent of the operating days during the third quarter and approximately 70 percent for the year-to-date period. As of December 8, 2020, approximately 100 stores are closed and additional temporary closures may be required. We will continue to operate in-store fulfillment activities to mitigate the effect of the temporary closures.
We established a special COVID-19 management committee which is taking the necessary precautionary measures to protect the health and safety of our team members, as well as following the guidance provided by local health authorities. We have been highly focused on the changes we are making to operate more safely in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We implemented newly-established health protocols, including providing personal protective equipment to our team members and implementing social distancing work practices. Prior to reopening our stores, we implemented various protocols including: occupancy limits, installing protective shields at registers, encouraging social distancing, providing distance markers in queue lines and throughout our stores, implementing new processes for handling merchandise returns, and instituting new cleaning regimens, including enhanced cleaning of high-touch surfaces throughout the day.