Foot Locker backs out of HQ move to St. Petersburg

Foot Locker, after being purchased earlier this year by Dick’s Sporting Goods, will no longer move its corporate headquarters to St. Petersburg. 

The company’s decision was disclosed to St. Petersburg City Council members Wednesday in a memo from James Corbett, the city’s development administrator.

In the memo Corbett writes that after Foot Locker’s $2.4 billion sale to the Pittsburgh retailer, the company “reevaluated its corporate strategy and decided not to move forward with relocating its global headquarters” to the city.

Dick’s did not respond to a request for comment late Thursday.

Corbett also writes that the nearly $500,000 in incentives promised to Foot Locker to lure them here, “will remain unexpended and available for future qualified projects.” 

“There is no fiscal impact to the city,” he writes.

St. Petersburg had loudly — and proudly — touted the company’s decision to move its corporate offices after the move was announced August 2024. It was seen by many as another example of a major company choosing the city over better known corporate hotspots. 

That day, Mayor Kenneth T. Welch called the global retailer’s decision “an investment in the promise of St. Pete’s culture, workforce, and local economy.”

A few months later, on Nov. 22, 2024, Welch met with company employees at a reception in the city. Then in March, it was announced that Foot Locker leased an 110,998-square-foot space in the city’s Carillon Business Park and executives had been visiting the city.

Welch did not comment Thursday. 

But questions about whether the move would happen began almost immediately after the sale to Dick’s closed, when neither it nor Foot Locker would respond to questions about whether the move was still on. 

As part of the sale, Dick’s did not retain Foot Locker CEO Mary Dillon — who championed the move to St. Petersburg — and named Dick’s Executive Chairman Ed Stack to head Foot Locker’s global operations.