Founded in Atlanta Georgia by Ray Margiano, (Ph.D C.Ped), Foot Solutions has fast become the world's leading health and wellness franchise focusing on foot care, comfort shoes and custom arch supports. Established just seven years ago, Foot Solutions has 230 stores across 15 countries while still very much at its infancy in terms of growth.

The successful American franchise has only recently started to spread its wings internationally, and opened its first European store on the Grand Parade in Cork last June.

Owned by John and Tony Linehan who are the master franchise developers for Foot Solutions for Ireland and the United Kingdom, the Cork store has proven to be a tremendous success as has the recruitment of new franchisees.

John Linehan, MD of Foot Solutions in Ireland and The UK outlined how he and Tony currently have eight franchises contracted and will be opening in Waterford at the beginning of May followed by Galway, Dublin and Limerick in the coming months.

"We are extremely pleased with the take up of new stores in Ireland so far and we have very strong interest from the UK also. I would expect that we will see our first UK store open by September," he said.

Foot Solutions carry a huge variety of the world's finest comfort shoes with extra depth and width and include a vast range of styles from casual shoes to dresswear.

They also carry sport, preventative, and diabetic footwear as well as specific physiological shoes that have health and wellness benefits.

These shoes such as MBT and Chung Shi can help improve posture and reduce or in some cases eliminate foot pain and associated symptoms such as knee and lower back pain. In addition Foot Solutions also specialise in custom arch supports.

"We can tailor footwear and arch supports for each individual customers need. All of their footwear is designed to accommodate orthotics," explained John.