While facing the desertion of several franchisees in France and a legal court appeal from its former Italian master franchisee, The Athlete’s Foot has opened its first next-generation performance store in Alabama, USA, with a major revamp of its logo, store design and merchandising system. Meanwhile NexCen Brands, parent company of The Athlete’s Foot, has bought a chain of high-end shoe shops in New York, called Shoe Box, with the aim of franchising it broadly (more in Shoe Intelligence).