Focus on shoes

Boston.com reports that shoe retailing is the next big thing. With several high profile retailers starting to retail shoes, the segment is going to receive a lot of attention. One high profile entrant, Gap Inc, launched an online store called Piperlime to sell its own shoes. Others such as Talbots and H&M have also been focusing on their footwear collections. Marshalls has increased its shoe departments in 40 of its stores in New England and Famous Footwear has opened 90 new stores across the country. Teen retailer Pacific Sunwear has launched a store focused on shoes called One Thousand Steps.

Shoes increasingly are becoming every season's must-have accessory: Between 2000 and 2005, US footwear sales rose 19 percent to about $49 billion, and they are expected to grow another 23 percent by 2010, according to Mintel Group, a Chicago market research firm. Women's clothing sales, on the other hand, rose only 2 percent between 2000 and 2005, and researchers predict growth of 9 percent by 2010.