Payless closing U.S. stores
Discount retailer closed 400 locations in 2017
Payless ShoeSource confirmed Friday that it will close its 2,100 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico and start liquidation sales Sunday. The company is also shuttering its e-commerce operations.
The closings mark the biggest by a single chain this year and nearly doubles the number of retail stores set to close in 2019.
“We expect all stores to remain open until at least the end of March and the majority will remain open until May,” the company said in a statement to USA TODAY.
“This process does not affect the company’s franchise operations or its Latin American stores, which remain open for business as usual.”
In the Milwaukee area, Payless operates stores in all four major shopping malls — Mayfair, Southridge, Brookfield Square and Bayshore Town Center — and has locations in other retail areas in the city and suburbs.
The Payless website lists stores at: 1001 W. Mitchell St., Milwaukee; River West Shopping Center, 320 E. Capitol Drive, Milwaukee; Southgate Marketplace, 3333 S. 27th St., Milwaukee; Westbrook Shopping Center, 2140 E. Moreland Blvd., Waukesha; and N96W18453 County Line Road, Menomonee Falls.
On Wednesday, Coresight Research released an outlook of 2019 store closures that said there was “no light at the end of the tunnel.”
Prior to the Payless announcement, 2,187 store closings had been announced in the first six weeks of the year, according to the global market research firm’s report. This represented a 23 percent increase over the same time period last year.
Those closings include 251 Shopko stores, 749 Gymboree stores and 94 Charlotte Russe locations.
For 2018, Coresight Research tracked 5,524 closings, which included all Toys R Us stores, hundreds of Mattress Firm stores, Kmart and Sears locations. The record year for closings was 2017 with 8,139 shuttered stores, Coresight reported.
The Topeka, Kansas-based discount shoe retailer had previously filed for bankruptcy protection in April 2017 and closed 400 stores.