Payless plans to close all 2,300 of its stores—including five in the Baton Rouge area—when it files for bankruptcy later this month, Reuters reports.
The discount shoe retailer has struggled to stay afloat the past few years and filed for bankruptcy in 2017, from which it emerged from later that year with some $400 million in loans. With the filing, Payless would be added to the growing list of national retailers going belly up and vacating malls and strip centers across America.
Payless operates five stores in the Baton Rouge area—on Airline Highway, Siegen Plaza on Siegen Lane, Mall of Louisiana, Florida Boulevard and Main Street in Zachary.
In another retail closing, engraved-gift retailer Things Remembered quietly shuttered its Mall of Louisiana location last month, mall general manager Jacob T. Wilson confirmed this morning.
The company filed for bankruptcy last week with plans to close most of its physical stores and refocus on online sales, according to bankruptcy documents. The company operates only two locations in Louisiana—in Kenner and Lafayette—but they are listed among stores set to close by the end of the month.
