Payless filing for bankruptcy, closing all stores in US and Canada

[retailisking]

Total liquidation of all remaining US stores starts Sunday
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-payless-shoesource-bankruptcy-stores/payless-shoesource-to-start-liquidation-sales-at-stores-idUSKCN1Q42SP

[TheFugitive]

My dad would be sad.

He was the King of Cheap Shoes.  He would always buy us kids shoes from
Pic Way Shoe Mart, which was acquired by Payless in 1994.

The cheapie sneakers he bought us from Pic Way were enough to get us
laughed at in school, or sometimes beat-up.

[mixedday]

I suppose there is Walmart, Target and the off price stores (Burlington, TJX) for cheap shoes.

It was somewhat a paradox in business strategy that Payless would be in high rent malls, but it's product was more or less limited to cheap shoes.

[BillyGr]

It was somewhat a paradox in business strategy that Payless would be in high rent malls, but it's product was more or less limited to cheap shoes.

Perhaps they figured (and it must have worked for a time, anyway) that they knew people went to malls for shoes (knowing that there were many stores there selling them), and once they got there and saw how much the other stores were charging, they would come into Payless looking for (and buying) the better deals that were offered?

Also seems to make sense, as many postings about their closure have commented that the prices in their stores have risen quite a bit in the recent past (which would eliminate the advantage they once had on price that drove people in to buy, and buy in volume enough to make the higher rents feasible to pay).

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Total liquidation of all remaining US stores starts Sunday
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-payless-shoesource-bankruptcy-stores/payless-shoesource-to-start-liquidation-sales-at-stores-idUSKCN1Q42SP

...Includes all of the Payless stores inside Shopko stores.

[shore72]

My wife commented that once upon a time she bought most of her shoes there; she said they were usually uncomfortable & didn't last long. She eventually figured out that a good $60 pair from another store lasted more than 3 times as long as a $20 pair from Payless. That was my experience as well.

[Zayre88]

Payless will also close its 248 stores in Canada