Payless Shoes Is Closing 400 Stores And Filing For Bankruptcy

Payless Shoe Source
Flickr | JeepersMedia

Bad news for Payless Shoe store fans, and even worse news for Payless employees. The company just announced it is filing for bankruptcy and will immediately close 400 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. And it’s likely that more store closures are on the way.

The discount shoe store filed for Chapter 11 with less than $1 billion in assets and more than $10 billion in liabilities, which spells further trouble down the road. Evidently, Payless has been discussing restructuring plans with lenders for months. This restructuring plan at one point included closing as many as 1,000 stores—25 percent of the company’s locations.

While it might not be this severe in reality, it’s likely we’ll see a lot more store closures before we see any openings. Payless says it plans to “work to aggressively manage the remaining” locations by way of more store closings aside from the current 400 or modified lease terms.

Payless currently employs nearly 22,000 people in 4,400 stores across 30 countries. Unfortunately, the widespread nature of the chain was not enough to combat the dismal offline retail environment, which played a huge role in the company’s filing for bankruptcy.

RELATED: Here Are The 138 Stores JCPenney Is Closing In 2017

Getty Images | Joey Foley

“This is a difficult, but necessary, decision driven by the continued challenges of the retail environment, which will only intensify,” Payless CEO W. Paul Jones said in a news release. “We will build a stronger Payless for our customers, vendors and suppliers, associates, business partners and other stakeholders through this process.”

Payless isn’t the only clothing retailer cutting down on physical stores. Major department stores like JCPenney, Macy’s, Sears and Kmart have all announced they are closing stores this year. Other retail chains such as Crocs, BCBG, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Guess have followed suit.

With more and more consumers taking to online shopping, it’s anyone’s guess what the future of Payless will be. For those of us who like to try on shoes in real life, it’ll be tough going.

Here are the 400 stores that will be closing:

(If you’re on desktop can zoom in using the magnifying glass with the “plus” icon at the bottom of the list. Or view the list in full here.)

Payless stores closing by Hayley Peterson on Scribd

RELATED: These 17 Popular Retailers Are Closing Stores In 2017

Is the Payless store near you on the list?

About the Author

Jessica Suss

An aspiring food and health writer, native Chicagoan, and nut butter enthusiast. Jessica is also the creator of BiteMeBlog, but don't call her a foodie More.

More to explore