Foot Locker has decided to relocate from Democrat-run New York City to Florida by late 2025 amid rising prices.
According to a New York Post article published Wednesday, CEO Mary Dillon said, “To better support our strategic progress, to increase team member collaboration, as well as ongoing expense discipline, we made the decision to relocate our headquarters to St. Petersburg, Fla.”
She also explained that the Big Apple has been “a center of gravity for Foot Locker for a long time. There are cost efficiencies over time by doing this, but we’re going to continue to have a presence in New York to keep connections to basketball and sneaker culture.”
In its announcement on Wednesday, the City of St. Petersburg said it was partnering with Pinellas County and the St. Petersburg Area Economic Development Corporation regarding the move.
The city’s message continued:
St. Petersburg Mayor Kenneth T. Welch shared, “Foot Locker’s move represents a significant corporate relocationand importantly, it’s another example of impactful and inclusive economic development in our city and the Tampa Bay region. On the heels of the generational Historic Gas Plant District project approval, St. Pete has now attracted a Fortune 500 company that will create 150+ more jobs and further diversify our workforce. Our partners who helped to secure Foot Locker share the City’s commitment to fostering a vibrant, diverse business environment.”
Foot Locker will be the third Fortune 500 headquarters based in St. Petersburg, and the fourth in Pinellas County, joining St. Petersburg’s Jabil and Raymond James, and Largo’s TD Synnex. The Tampa Bay metro area is second only to Miami in Fortune 500 headquarters in Florida. The company will be offered base and hiring incentives pending City Council approval.
In 2023, United States Census Bureau data revealed that New York City lost almost half a million residents over the span of two years, Breitbart News reported at the time.
The report noted that crime, social unrest, and housing prices were causing Americans to relocate.
New York has a brand. https://t.co/M81o6sX4gZ
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 11, 2024
The article also noted that “Mass immigration helps send housing prices soaring, research has shown. Cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago — all of which are sanctuary cities that offer public benefits to illegal aliens — are inundated annually by illegal and legal immigration which, in return, raises home prices and rents, a boon for local landlords.”
In early August, the Chevron oil company said it would be moving its headquarters from Democrat-run California to Texas “as the leftist state continues to throttle businesses,” the Breitbart News report stated.