Payless ShoeSource Inc. twice filed for bankruptcy protection and last year closed its 2,500 North American stores. Now, amid the coronavirus pandemic, the discount shoe retailer is attempting its third comeback, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company, which emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January and is now called Payless Worldwide, is relaunching its website today and plans to open as many as 400 stores in North America over the next five years, with the first location slated for Miami this fall. It is following other troubled brands that have found new life online or with smaller physical footprints, such as Toys “R” Us, RadioShack, Dressbarn and Barneys New York. Even retailers that have avoided bankruptcy are closing stores and shifting more online, such as Gap Inc. and Macy’s Inc. Digital startups that had started opening bricks-and-mortar stores are backtracking, including clothing rental service Rent the Runway, which is closing its four retail stores and converting a fifth to a drop-off location. Payless CEO Jared Margolis said the company’s prior trouble is allowing it to restart without the bloated overhead, antiquated technology and thousands of bricks-and-mortar stores that had become a liability as more shopping shifted online, a trend that has accelerated during the health crisis.
