FOOT LOCKER SIGNING EXCLUSIVE DEALS TO MAKE ITS OWN MARK

          Foot Locker is "maneuvering to bolster its bottom line,
     guard itself against downturns in business and to
     differentiate itself from the competition," according to
     Richard Wilner of the N.Y. POST.  Among the moves the
     company is making are "exclusive footwear licensing deals,"
     including one announced with Champion last month and a
     "recently rolled out private label apparel line."  The chain
     also inked deals for "exclusive styles" of Le Coq Sportif,
     the veteran sneaker brand.  Foot Locker, which with 2,100
     U.S. stores is the country's No. 1 sneaker store, is "also
     in the midst of a $1 billion capital spending plan that will
     result in more than half the stores being less than three
     years old by 2000."  Wilner writes that the renovated stores
     "feel more like the Gap than the locker room feel the chain
     has had for more than two decades" (N.Y. POST, 4/1).