
Major Shoe Retailer to File Bankruptcy, Close Stores
The latest American retailer expected to file for bankruptcy is Payless Shoe Stores. Payless, which has more than 15 locations in eastern Iowa including Lindale Mall in Cedar Rapids and Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville, is expected to close 500 of the companies more than four thousand-plus stores located in 30 countries. Bloomberg says that bankruptcy filing could come as soon as this week, "according to people familiar with the matter."
The Payless website describes itself as,
"the largest specialty family footwear retailer in the Western Hemisphere... The company's mission is simple: To be the Go To, Get More, Pay Less shoe store for our target customers."
Footwear News reported in late-January that Payless was months behind in paying some of their major vendors and that the company was $665 million in debt. Last fall, Footwear News said Payless would close up to 500 stores in the next three years. That timetable, unfortunately, appears to be accelerating.
Payless traces its roots to Topeka, Kansas, where the company started in 1956. Its current workforce consists of 22,000, undoubtedly nervous, people.
[via Bloomberg, Payless, Google, Footwear News, Payless, Payless, and Footwear News]
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