JD Sports Fashion, owner of the British JD sports fashion banner, has acquired Footpatrol, a retailer of sneakers in London that once drew a following among fashionistas in the U.K. and beyond. Footpatrol’s only store, in the Soho district of the English capital, closed its doors last March because of rising rent and other costs, but JD is looking for a larger location in central London to reopen it. It should then sell both footwear and apparel, whereas the former Footpatrol store only offered a small range of fashion-forward and often exclusive sneakers. JD denied that it intended to develop Footpatrol as a private label or to turn it into a chain, although some smaller stores may be opened under the same banner over the next years. JD already has exclusive access to some of the ranges of the leading sports brands, but one of the attractions of the deal, which was revealed by Drapers Record last month, is to tighten and extend such relationships.