Article: Retiring CEO Reshapes St. Louis-Based Brown Group.

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Nov. 29 -- Brown Group Inc. has changed radically in the nearly 20 years that B.A. "Dolph" Bridgewater Jr. has been managing the shoe company in Clayton.

The once-venerable maker of women's shoes has gotten out of manufacturing and a bevy of businesses unrelated to shoes. Total employment is down to about 10,000 from nearly 30,000 in the 1980s. The company's headquarters on Maryland Avenue has shrunk to about 650 people from more than 2,000.

Brown's stock and profit performance has been erratic. Profits are up dramatically through the first nine months of this fiscal year, but the company has lost money on ...

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