The Aldo Group is a Canadian corporation that owns and operates a worldwide chain of shoe and accessory stores. The company was founded by Aldo Bensadoun in Montreal, Quebec, in 1972 where its corporate headquarters remain today. It has grown to become a worldwide corporation, with nearly 1600 stores under 5 retail banners: Aldo, Call It Spring/Spring, Lōcale/Feetfirst, Globo and Little Burgundy. There are also Aldo Accessories, Aldo Outlet, Aldo Liquidation, Spring Liquidation, and clearance stores. Stores in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Ireland are owned by the Group while international stores are franchised. The company once operated the now closed or re-branded banners Simard & Voyer, Christian Shoes, Access, Pegabo, Transit, Stoneridge, and FIRST (which was the American version of Feetfirst).The Aldo Group controls about 25% of the Canadian shoe market, and is in third place behind Wal-Mart and Payless, respectively. The number of employees at Aldo has increased tremendously, and presently employs over 15,000 people with 4,000 of those employees in Quebec.On March 13, 2012 the Aldo Group has signed on with Madonna to produce the Truth or Dare by Madonna fashion line. This footwear will be found starting in August 2012, at Macy’s, Nordstrom, Selfridges, ASOS.com, The Bay, Little Burgundy and Capezio.Aldo shoes was founded in Canada in 1972 as a footwear concession within Le Chateau. The original group included stores in Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, and Winnipeg. Aldo Bensadoun known today as a global shoe giant built his empire starting in Montreal. After four generations, the Bensadoun family continues into the shoe industry. “Mr. Bensadoun never intended to follow in the footsteps of his father, a shoe retailer in Morocco and France, or his grandfather, a cobbler in Algeria” (Strauss, 2010). Aldo Bensadoun learnt Italian to better communicate with his suppliers in Italy, and eventually he cut out the middleman who serviced him between Canada and European manufacturers (Strauss, 2010).The first freestanding Aldo store was opened in Montreal, in 1978. The brand expanded in the 1980s and 1990s, with stores operating under the name Aldo across Canada. Entering in the US market was going to be a challenge, this was a market were many Canadian companies failed to prosper. “It opened one store in 1990 in the decidedly unfashionable border town of Plattsburgh, N.Y., a mere hour's drive from Aldo headquarters. The store served as a lab where Aldo tested its logistics, marketing and hiring in preparation for a broader American assault”according to Kuncharsky (2002). The first store outside of North America opened in Israel in 1995. The brand expanded in the 2000s into Saudi Arabia in 2001, England in 2002, and Singapore in 2003. Since then, the Aldo Group, with the Aldo and Call It Spring/Spring banners, has further expanded on the international market, and by the end of 2011, the company will operate more than 600 franchises in 63 countries around the world.