Jason and Edyth Berry recently completed the purchase of Footsloggers, the 41-year-old outdoor outfitter with stores in Boone and Blowing Rock, from founder Hanes Boren.

Boren opened Footsloggers on Faculty Street in Boone with business partner Sam Houston in July 1971, before buying out Houston’s share in the late 1980s.

Jason Berry began working at Footsloggers part-time in 1999 while attending Appalachian State University.

“I have had a passion for the outdoors and a love for great outdoor retail shops since I was a kid,” Berry said. “I have always wanted to end up in outdoor retail, and this was my goal as I worked through the business school at ASU.”

In 2005, Berry began a seven-year buyout term, which was finalized in September.

“I am honored that Hanes wanted to keep Footsloggers under the leadership of someone who has a passion for the outdoors and who has a passion for our community. I am following quite a distinguished legacy which Hanes built over the past 41 years, and I am excited to further that legacy and become an increasingly meaningful part of our High Country community,” Berry said.

“Our staff are the stars, and it is our goal that customers are served extraordinarily well with each visit,” he added.

Berry is a member of the Downtown Boone Development Association Board of Directors.