Barratts Shoes makes online comeback over a decade after disappearing from high street

The owner of Barratts Shoes Max Church told Retail Week that the brand would be relaunching its ecommerce website today, offering customers “a selection of popular brands” such as Skechers, Hush Puppies, Crocs, Birkenstocks and others.

Church went on to say that Barratts would “offer customers fresh selections every week, with new products added regularly”.

The retailer will only operate online for the time being, although Church said “we plan to expand our presence with physical stores in the future”.

Church said: “As the new owner, I am committed to reviving Barratts and ensuring a fantastic shopping experience online”.

Barratts was founded in 1903 as W Barratt Boot and Shoe Company in Northampton. The brand was consolidated into the Stylo parent company in 1935, and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1964.

By the 1990s, the brand had over 400 stores across the UK and had snapped up other brands, including Hush Puppies, and operated more than 300 concessions in Arcadia Group stores such as Dorothy Perkins and had a burgeoning online presence with Wallis. 

While the brand enjoyed a successful 20^th Century, the turn of the millenium was less kind to the brand as it struggled to deal with the influx of international shoe brands.

Stylo, which owned Barratts and Priceless Shoes, called in administrators in February 2009, having posted a £12.5m loss for the 2008 financial year. By that stage it had already shuttered 150 of its 400 stores and slashed some 2,500 of its 4,500-strong work force.

What was left of the brand was sold and sold again, but it would go into administration twice more in the 2010s - in December 2011 and in November 2013.