Payless Is Filing Bankruptcy And Will Immediately Close 400 Stores

Bad news for a lot of shoe shoppers who loved getting a good deal at Payless. The company announced on Tuesday that it has filed for bankruptcy and will immediately close 400 of its U.S. and Puerto Rico locations.

Payless ShoeSource has filed for Chapter 11 protection on less than $1 billion in assets and $10 billion in liabilities.

The discount shoe chain has said that it plans to “work to aggressively manage the remaining” stores through additional closures, that go beyond the initial 400, or modified lease terms.

This doesn’t seem like too much of a dent considering there are 4,400 stores in 30 countries across the world. The company employs nearly 22,000 people.

“This is a difficult, but necessary, decision driven by the continued challenges of the retail environment, which will only intensify,” said Payless CEO W. Paul Jones 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 is among many retail chains who are suffering due to challenging retail environments.

Macys, Sears, and JCPenney are other stores who have announces store closures this year.

Could this be the end soon of brick and mortar shopping? Will everything be online one day?