Payless shoes closing 475 stores, considers putting itself up for sale (dollars, election)

[KUchief25]

I bet if they signed Lebron to peddle some of their pathetic shoes or MJ they'd sell like hotcakes. Works for Nike.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Zenstyle

Payless is an emporium of cheap, Chinese-imported crap. Maybe sales are down because consumers are wising up and learning not to stint on their footwear. Maybe (maybe!) we're learning from Europeans that a few, quality items outperform a closetful of shoddy, cheaply-made merch.

True. I'm not sure it's that though. The welfare crowd tends to prefer $100 Nikes to the shoes Payless sells, but the middle class are the ones who have to tighten their belts.

Plantar fasciitis can get costly though - at least some people may have learned that and how important a quality shoe is.

[stan4]

Payless shoes closing 475 stores, considers putting itself up for sale

If I buy one store, do I get the next one half off?

[ChristineVA]

I'd attribute it to reallly crappy shoes. I walk in there about once every few months just to see. That place is just gross. It's *never* busy in any of the bazillion stores they have and they've always got to offer BOGO just to get you in.

While I'm sure the economy isn't helping because people are being more careful with their purchases, IMO, they weren't doing all that well to begin with. Yes, a recession will cut out the extraneous BS stuff in a heartbeat.

[calipoppy]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

I'd attribute it to reallly crappy shoes. I walk in there about once every few months just to see. That place is just gross. It's *never* busy in any of the bazillion stores they have and they've always got to offer BOGO just to get you in.

While I'm sure the economy isn't helping because people are being more careful with their purchases, IMO, they weren't doing all that well to begin with. Yes, a recession will cut out the extraneous BS stuff in a heartbeat.

Payless Shoes is closing 475 stores, so what? Only the dirt poor or really fashion challenged people bought those awful shoes anyway. Call me when Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik or Christian Louboutin close their doors....now that would be a real story!

[313Weather]

Originally Posted by nr5667

I can't recall ever buying shoes at payless... could it be enough people started buying their shoes at Walmart and Target?

That's part of it.

Also, this is the age of materialism. So everyone's buying expensive designer shoes such as Jordan's versus the "cheap" shoes at Payless.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by 313Weather

That's part of it.

Also, this is the age of materialism. So everyone's buying expensive designer shoes such as Jordan's versus the "cheap" shoes at Payless.

Yes -- including the so-called "poor" with their nice cell phones and free cable television. The food stamp crowd seems the least likely ones to buy affordable shoes or worry about belt tightening.

I think it was the taxpaying types who shopped at Payless, and with local property taxes going up and food prices going up have less money to spend on shoes.

[EdwardA]

I'm not too familiar with their business model but a store that supposedly has cheap shoes should be faring better in this economy. Not a good sign.

[EdwardA]

Originally Posted by calipoppy

Payless Shoes is closing 475 stores, so what? Only the dirt poor or really fashion challenged people bought those awful shoes anyway. Call me when Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik or Christian Louboutin close their doors....now that would be a real story!

So folks aren't really struggling then if the style of shoes are more important than practicality.

[Quick Enough]

Originally Posted by Winter_Sucks

So Obama is now responsible for the business decisions of Payless Shoes?

If he is going to take the credit for how many jobs he has created, he also has to take the blame for businesses (jobs lost) closing.