New Glasgow shoe store to close

NEW GLASGOW, N.S. — Another tenant is leaving Highland Square Mall. Payless Shoes, one of 220 Payless outlets across Canada, will close sometime in the next few months. Payless will begin closing its 2,500 North American stores at the end of March, though some will be open until the end of May while the company conducts liquidation sales, the company said in a release.

A woman who answered the phone Tuesday referred all media inquiries to the company’s head office. According to multiple media outlets, documents filed with the Ontario Superior Court show the company’s Canadian operations, which employ about 2,400 workers, had an oversupply of inventory as recently as this winter and was forced to sell merchandise at steep markdowns. The documents said the company failed to pay February’s rent for stores it owns in Canada and reported an operating loss of more than US$12 million last year. Payless was founded in 1956 and previously had filed for bankruptcy in 2017.

The News