Freeman, Hardy and Willis
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Freeman, Hardy and Willis was a major chain of footwear retailers in the United Kingdom.
[edit] History
The shoe retailer was established in 1875 and was named after three employees of the company. For many years, there was a branch in nearly every town in the United Kingdom. The company was subsequently acquired by Charles Clore in his British Shoe Corporation empire based in Leicester, which also comprised Trueform, Olympus Sport, Curtess, Dolcis, Manfield, Saxone and Lilley & Skinner. The name was also changed to simply 'Freeman Hardy Willis' in order to have bolder lettering on shopfronts.
[edit] Sale of company
In the early 1990s, British Shoe Corporation, by then part of the Sears Group, converted approximately half of the 540 Freeman Hardy Willis branches into Hush Puppies shops and sold the remainder to Stephen Hinchliffe, an entrepreneur from Sheffield. Unfortunately, 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.[1] 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.
