Beck’s Shoes Acquiring Stores

Campbell, CA-based retailer Beck’s Shoes has an ambitious acquisition strategy in place, and it includes ensuring the legacies of the small, family-owned shoe stores they are acquiring. Fifth-generation independent family shoe store operators, cousins Adam Beck and Julia Beck-Gomez, are expanding the Beck’s footprint in 11 Western states, including not only California but also Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.

“We don’t want to expand for the sake of expanding,” says Adam Beck. “We want to fill a void where a family is ready to pass the torch to us. We take very seriously the weight of carrying on a legacy, but we know what we would want if we were on the other side of the coin.”

Family businesses Beck’s has acquired over the last 18 months include Don’s Shoes in Yuba City, CA in 2019 followed by Johnsons Shoes, Bill Shoes and Santa Rosa (CA) Shoes.

If an acquired business has solid Yelp reviews and a good foothold with its customers in their community, Beck’s typically “slow plays a rebranding” over a 12- to 18-month period with a nameplate change and extensive remodel. If a seller owns his retail real estate rather than lease it, Beck’s Shoes is more motivated to make a deal.

Without going deep into specifics on its capital budgets, Adam Beck says his business has an expansion strategy in place allowing for 2-3 acquisitions annually over the next decade. The next one, not yet official, is in the works.