Snipes is making moves to expand its U.S. brick-and-mortar presence.
The global sneaker retailer has signed an agreement to purchase American sneaker chain Jimmy Jazz, which operates over 170 stores in the U.S. The deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, will grow Snipes’ U.S. retail presence from 100 to almost 270 locations.
Snipes currently operates more than 450 stores across Europe and the U.S. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Despite the pandemic, Snipes continues to grow,” said Sven Voth, CEO and founder of Snipes. “Our ‘community first’ concept will keep our focus on our core customer. We are very excited to deepen our commitment to the communities we serve by partnering with Jimmy Jazz.”
Via the terms of the deal, Snipes will leverage Jimmy Jazz’s broad store network to expand to new areas across America.
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“In Snipes, we’ve gained a strong, global partner who shares our passion and who will appropriately continue our legacy as well as our investment in our teams and stores,” said Jimmy Khezrie, owner of Jimmy Jazz.
The deal marks Snipes’ largest acquisition to date and another example of the retailer going all-in on its U.S. retail presence. Snipes first entered the U.S. market in May 2019 with the acquisition of KicksUSA. Since then, the retailer has made headlines for other major moves, including the acquisition of Mr. Alan’s in July 2019 and the stateside introduction of its elevated Snipes 2.0 concept in July 2020.
In October, Snipes announced the opening of a new store in Brooklyn, marking its second door on Flatbush Avenue. In an interview with Snipes president Jim Bojko at the time, he said the retailer’s footprint will only continue to grow.
“Our mission is to push street culture forward to the community, we have an inherently local outlook with everything that we do,” Bojko said. “That requires a local presence in our communities so we can participate there, we can support, we can empower, we can celebrate, and we have to have a physical presence to be able to do that.”
