Payless Shoesource Closing 2,300 Stores

Payless ShoeSource has plans to close all stores.

Payless ShoeSource to close all 2,300 stores

Payless ShoeSource plans to close all of its roughly 2,300 stores when it files for bankruptcy later this month, according to media reports.

Sources close to the matter told Reuters that Payless has been unsuccessful in finding a buyer and is preparing to run going-out-of business sales next week.

 

This would be Payless’s second bankruptcy filing, after emerging from an April 2017 filing about 18 months ago.

A string of bankruptcies have already claimed thousands of U.S. stores this year, including some GAP, Gymboree, Things Remembered and Crazy 8 stores. Last year some high-profile businesses like Toys “R” Us, Sears and Bon-Ton —parent of Elder-Beerman — closed thousands of stores after filing for bankruptcy.

There are Payless locations in the Dayton Mall, Mall at Fairfield Commons, Sugar Creek Plaza, Midpointe Center in Middletown, on Salem Avenue in Dayton, at Bechtle Crossing in Springfield, on Voice of America Drive in West Chester, Bridgewater Falls in Hamilton and others in the Cincinnati area.

There is also a distribution center that employs 550 people in Brookville.