Our future success will be determined, in part, on our ability to manage the impact of the rapidly changing retail environment and identify and capitalize on retail trends, including technology, e-commerce and other process efficiencies that will better service our customers. 

## Our business is intensely competitive and increased or new competition could have a material adverse effect on us. 

The retail footwear and accessory markets are intensely competitive. We currently compete against a diverse group of retailers, including other regional and national specialty stores, department and discount stores, small independents and e-commerce retailers, as well as our own vendors who are increasingly selling direct to consumers, which sell products similar to and often identical to those we sell. Our branded businesses, selling footwear at wholesale, also face intense competition, both from other branded wholesale vendors and from private label initiatives of their retailer customers. A number of different competitive factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, including: 

• increased operational efficiencies of competitors; 

• competitive pricing strategies; 

• expansion by existing competitors; 

• expansion of direct-to-consumer by our vendors; 

• entry by new competitors into markets in which we currently operate; and 

• adoption by existing retail competitors of innovative store formats or sales methods. 

## Investments and Infrastructure Risks 

## We face a number of risks in opening new stores and renewing leases on existing stores. 

We expect to open new stores, both in regional malls, where most of the operational experience of our U.S. businesses lies, and in other venues including outlet centers, major city street locations, airports and tourist destinations. We cannot offer assurances that we will be able to open as many stores as we have planned, that any new store will achieve similar operating results to those of our existing stores or that new stores opened in markets in which we operate will not have a material adverse effect on the revenues and profitability of our existing stores. In addition to the risks already discussed for existing stores, the success of our planned expansion will be dependent upon numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including the following: 

• our ability to identify suitable markets and individual store sites within those markets; 

• the competition for suitable store sites; 

• our ability to negotiate favorable lease terms for new stores and renewals (including rent and other costs) with landlords in part due to the consolidation in the commercial real estate market; 

• our ability to obtain governmental and other third-party consents, permits and licenses needed to construct and operate our stores; 

• the ability to build and remodel stores on schedule and at acceptable cost; 

• the availability of employees to staff new stores and our ability to hire, train, motivate and retain store personnel; 

• the effect of changes to laws and regulations, including minimum wage, over-time, and employee benefits laws on store expense. 

• the availability of adequate management and financial resources to manage an increased number of stores; 

• our ability to adapt our distribution and other operational and management systems to an expanded network of stores; and 

• unforseen events, such as COVID-19, could prevent or delay store openings and impact our liquidity needed for store openings. 

