Roller skates Roller skates Roller skates are shoes, or bindings that fit onto shoes, that are worn to enable the wearer to roll along on wheels. The first roller skate was effectively an ice skate with wheels replacing the blade. Later the "quad" style of roller skate became more popular consisting of four wheels arranged in the same configuration as a typical car. While the first reported use of roller skates was on a London stage in 1743, the first patented roller skate was introduced in 1760 by Belgian inventor John Joseph Merlin. His roller skate wasn't much more than an ice
Famous Footwear opportunity for the St. Louis-based Brown Shoe Company, which acquired the firm and immediately set about with plans for rapid expansion. By 1986 the chain consisted of 230 stores. In 1990, Famous Footwear launched a distribution center in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, near Madison. This was followed by another distribution center in Lebanon, Tennessee, constructed in 1993. Fueled by Brown Shoe Co. money, the chain had expanded to 722 stores in 44 states by the end of that year. Prior to 1974, due to its discounting policy Famous Footwear was unable to purchase footwear from the two leading athletic shoe giants