Kinnaird, who made his name and fortune as retail director of Sir Tom Hunter's Sports Division, was understood to be closing in on a deal to buy the 67-store business, put up for sale in September, as Retail Week went to press.
The value of the deal was uncertain, but footwear sources said that it would be 'way off the original£15 million price tag' because of poor trading, overstocks, high rents and under-invested stores. Kinnaird was not contactable, so his plans for the chain were unclear.
Kinnaird, who ran and part-owned Warner Bros Studio Stores until it went into administration in 2004, lost out to Sports World boss Mike Ashley on a deal to buy Original Shoe Company earlier this year.
Ashley is believed to have run his slide rule over Dolcis, with a view to merging it with Original Shoe. He is understood to have ambitious plans to expand Original Shoe to 150 stores and reposition it as a sports lifestyle retailer to go head to head with JD Sports. It is thought he considered utilising the Dolcis stores to accelerate growth.
Repositioning Original Shoe will form the crux of Ashley's response to big sports brands Nike and Adidas's decision to tier their product offer to gain more control over brand presentation. In future, retailers wanting more premium goods from the two brands must meet certain criteria for store presentation.
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