Hard to say what's going on these days and at specific spots because I got no one on the inside. But a few years back, I had two close friends working at Footlockers, and one was a manager. Despite the chances of upward mobility, he was still in it primarily for the love of shoes and just saw the job as temporary stepping stone. In the end, at least back then, both of these friends confirmed it was shady in terms of limited releases, especially when the managers were friends with the regular employees. "Oh, so-and-so is putting his two size XX's behind the desk again lol" sorta stuff. So here I'm just going with my gut and experience until me or somebody I know actually wins one of these things. I'm not going to say what city I'm in to put people on blast, but it's small enough to have this fishy feeling be justified.