1st March 2010

The following Press Release announcement was issued:- “York-based Pavers Shoes, one of the UK’s leading comfort footwear specialists, has acquired shoe-shop.com, as part of its growth plan to become a global multi channel shoe retailer".

Shoe-shop.com, founded in 1999 and also headquartered in York, has grown to become one of Europe’s largest online shoe stores with a turnover of £10m, in excess of one million customers and selling a multitude of brands. The central operations of the two businesses will be based at Pavers Shoes state-of-the-art 90,000 sq ft Head Office and Distribution Centre in Poppleton York. Pavers Shoes, founded by Catherine Paver in 1971, has established a reputation for high quality, comfortable and value-for-money shoes with a sense of style. With a turnover in excess of £50m, it has 100 plus outlets in the UK, including high street shops, discount concessions and designer outlets. It sells a wide range of well known brands such as CAT, Hush Puppies, Timberland, Merrell, Flyflot, Padders, Equity and Clarks and has also created a successful own label range.

Shoe-shop.com, which was founded by Catherine’s son Stuart as an independent business in 1999, has established itself as one of the largest online shoe stores in Europe.

On the acquisition, Stuart Paver, who will be Managing Director of the enlarged Pavers Shoes business, said: “Pavers has always been an innovative company, and this has helped it grow substantially in a declining and very competitive market”.

• Pavers are delighted with the merger it is a very exciting time for us as it will now enable us to offer all our loyal customers throughout the UK and Eire a complete ‘Pavers Experience’ offering our products both in store and on-line. Your comfort has always been our passion and we look forward to providing you with a greater level of service and convenience.
  Pavers continues to be family owned and run by Cathie and her sons Stuart Paver, MD, and Ian Paver, Buying Director.

• In 2008 Pavers had over 70 shops around the UK and Eire, and opened Catherine House, a brand new multi million pound state of the art Distribution Centre/Head Office based in York. The work on this 90,000 sq ft building began in October 2005 and was completed September 2006.

• In 1999 we launched shoe-shop.com, which soon became one of Europe’s leading on-line shoe retailers.

• In 1996 Pavers continued to open High Street shops throughout the North and we opened our first Outlet store in North Shields, although discount footwear retailers had been around for years, few offered the brands which Pavers Outlet stocked. This formula proved to be a great success and again many more followed.

• Pavers Ltd, was founded in 1971 by Catherine Paver. Cathie had always found shopping for shoes difficult because she could never find what she wanted without trouble over the fitting. Therefore Cathie, with the help of her family, opened her own shoe shop in Scarborough. This proved to be a great success and soon similar shops followed in York, Hull and Newcastle.