The Decline of Payless...What Happened? 

Simple: Prices went up and quality remained the same. Who wants to pay 50 bucks for a pair of shoes with glue and threading showing and pulling apart?

I remember my mom taking my siblings and I to walmart or payless for shoes and I would be really excited to get new shoes and being able to pick them out. I could remember the smile it brought my mom when she saw how happy we were to get these bargin brand shoes. We weren't the wealthiest but my mom provided what she could and I'm glad we weren't hard on her

Let's be honest, what killed Payless was that they thought they were a regular shoe store, not a discount retailer and started charging up to $75 for off brand, lessor quality shoes.

I feel bad for today's parents. Payless helped my mom stay within her budget while we were growing up.

One thing that made me stop shopping at Payless was that the prices are not as reasonable as they used to be. Back in the day, shoes there cost anywhere from $5-20. Not anymore. Last time I was in there, I saw a very basic pair of ballet flats being sold for $24.99. Might as well go to Target, Kohls, or Marshalls. Payless still sells cheap shoes, but without those cheap prices.

Anyone remember that “Payless smell”

they priced themselves out of the market. There's no need to pay 34.99, 49.99 for shoes that have the quality they do. You can go to Ross, tj maxx, marshalls and get named shoes, and leather for same cost or even lower. They didn't watch their competition and adapt. It's too bad.

I thought I was so cool with my new “adidas” from Payless until I went to school and realized everyone else’s shoes had 3 stripes not 4. 😭

“What are thooseee” was their downfall

The fact that I can buy clearance Nike sneakers at Ross or Marshall’s for the same price I’d get Payless shoes says it all. The stores looked cheap and their shoes rarely caught my attention.

It came to a point when it wasn’t “ less”. They had prices comparable with DSW who sells name brand shoes.

Let’s be honest the nail is the coffin was the rise of stores like Ross and DDs that offered name brand shoes at a fraction of the cost.. rip Payless you held it down for us 80 and 90s kids with the light up sonic shoes, but you didn’t evolve 🙏

In middle school, you were mocked if you did not have branded shoes like Nike and they would otherwise comment that you got your shoes at payless! It was a crime to get your shoes there as a kid...

R.I.P Payless. Thank you for my ballet shoes, tap shoes, school & church shoes!! You always show up when I needed you!

The main reason is that their prices went way up.

This was my first job, started 2007. Even then I could see everything they did wrong. The biggest, in my opinion, was how we pretty much had to take back any return that a customer brought in. I swear, these people had no shame! They would return stinky, dirty shoes that were clearly well-worn ("Ohh, they didn't fit!") and the policy was just to take it back as long as they had a receipt. How do you expect to make a profit when you allow your customers to treat it like a rental service?!?

I used to hate it when my parents brought me here to buy shoes LOL

Remeber getting champion shoes from Payless.... Damn those were the days

I was a freak of nature child with a women’s size 11 shoe size at 12 years old in 1993 and Payless was the only place I could go for shoes. I miss them. I could get some cute heels for $25 that I would wear like three times anyway.

Payless was big when adults and kids were innocent/naive, when we didn't care what brand or quality the others used to wear.

Coming from someone who was a manager of payless... they messed with time cards and got sued a ton!! If they would have followed the rules they would have saved millions in lawyer fees...

UNRELATED but when I was in high school they had a raffle. We paid 1 dollar per ticket to win a grand prize. So many people POURED money into this raffle thinking the grand prize was the xbox one that just came out. It was a $15 payless giftcard....

Payless Shoes somehow ended up costing more than JCPenny, Macy’s, Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, Walmart, and Famous Footwear. People would rather buy from a higher quality Brand Outlet than Payless.

You missed a major point, Their shoes are low quality and fail quickly. Most people I know think their product is crap and would never shop there because if it.

This explains everything! When I was a kid, I begged my mom not to buy me shoes from this place! My friends would roast the hell out of me! Pro Wings! Generic Jordan’s! 😂 But as an adult, I LOVED this store! Always walked out with 2-3 pairs of decent shoes for about $40. Then the prices went up, the sales were weak and I stopped shopping them. I guess they were trying to pay off that debt! 😳

I feel like if they would’ve kept their prices low they would’ve been okay.

We used to sing “Payless shoes ain’t got no grip. Make u fall and bust your lip” 🥴🥴 they were really smooth at the bottoms 😭

I actually have good memories of Payless and I feel thankful to them because growing up poor, it meant it was the only place I could get shoes as kid. It was wonderful to me when my Mom used to take me there... Like a small Christmas! I usually got to choose the shoes I wanted and sometimes she used to buy me *2 pairs!* I felt so great when that happened. Quality wise they were always great to me, and I used to walk a lot because, well, I was poor. The only ones that surpassed them were a couple of Vans and some Pumas I got lucky to own. Also I was a big guy from a bad neighborhood, so no one ever dared to make fun of my beloved Payless shoes LOL

“ShoeSource”? That’s some Mandela shit going on... Also, this place is the reason I grew up thinking any pair of shoes over $30 was overpriced

All of the Payless stores here locally have been having "40% off the entire store" sales for the last week. Not a good sign. Great video as always!

I remember we would only go to Payless for sandals. Payless had some cute sandals.

I remember as a middle schooler when my favorite basketball player Hakeem Olajuwon released his own signature shoe exclusively through Payless because he wanted it to affordable for all kids unlike Jordans. My mom was going to buy me a pair because she knew that he was my favorite player and I was a die hard Rockets fan. But I said no because I didn’t want to get made fun of by the other kids at my school for having Payless shoes.

As soon as you said "private equity firm" I was like, ah, the vultures have descended.

Cheap, uncomfortable shoes that look worn out after a short while, thats what happened. Don't even mention durability.

Ahhh, I remember walking out of Payless with 8 pairs of shoes and only paying $40. I still have quite a few pairs, including several that have never been worn.

The problem was the price and they had no brand recognition like nike, Adidas, sketchers, etc. So they were pricing themselves out of the market. People would rather buy a cheap nike or Adidas shoe over an expensive no name shoe.

"2012 - ... Payless now owned by private equity firms" Aaaaaaand that is the death of any company. Nothing survives a private equity firm. They may not kill it under their control, but they'll inflict mortal wounds.

As of today, just 3 months after you made this video, they announced they will be closing ALL of their stores. R.I.P. Payless, you will be missed. Liquidation sale starts Sunday February 17th 2019.

I used to love Payless! When I got my first job at 15 I finally was able to get my own new shoes and this was my store of choice. I got good work shoes, cute sandals, even my heels for prom at Payless. R.I.P. rest in payless

I purchased a pair of Shaq sneakers from Payless for basketball. One day, while running a fast break, I drove through the lane to score but the sole of my right shoe was back at half court. I never returned to Payless.

Style selections got uglier and prices went up.. I was a huge consumer of them years ago because I have big, wide feet and had trouble finding cute or sexy and sturdy shoes. They always had something I could wear. Then my size became more geriatric and higher priced. I found better styles in Wal-Mart in recent years.. I'm saddened by this.

My mom took me here about every year growing up for school.

I remember getting payless shoes as a kid. The last time I bought shoes from payless was 2015 for prom shoes. It's a great place for cheap formal shoes.

Update: it didn’t. They’re closed everywhere now.

I remember being clowned at school for having payless shoes

Growing up in the 90’s everyone knew that Payless always had the knock off version of whatever shoe was popular at the moment and it was strangely obvious which one was the off brand .

in recent times, i always remember them as them being "cheap" but actually being way more expensive than they should've been. they were always poorly made and they fell apart in a year from normal wear. my mom used to work at Payless and when the location she worked at closed, she moved on and managed a famous footwear instead lol

They're too expensive. Even when they were going out business,the prices were still high.

When kids got caught wearing Payless or Skechers at my elementary school, it was OVER 😭

That Payless smell. The scent of savings.

My Grandma basically lived at payless and so I have some fond memories of just being in the store with her. Almost all my shoes always came from there and I never really thought that much into where my shoes came from/what brand they were, except when Uggs first became a popular thing many years ago. When they were to finally close down here, I remember she intentionally bought so many pairs of shoes and boots for EVERYONE in the family because the closing deals were so cheap. I kinda feel sad not seeing them anymore, from the childhood memories, and I know she's still upset about them closing down to this day.

My parents' reply whenever I wanted nice shoes as a kid: "We're not going to pay X dollars for shoes that you'll outgrow in Y months". Bonus insult: I got all of my brothers' hand-me-down shoes. Yes, the only thing worse than Payless shoes (besides no shoes at all, or no feet I suppose) are twice-used Payless shoes. Yeah yeah I know, 1st world problems :(

I used to get bullied for wearing their shoes lmao, I went to a preppy catholic school and they were the only thing that we could customize about our uniforms 😭

Can confirm got made fun of for having Payless shoes. Also their shoes don't last very long. Can go through 4 pairs of Payless or one pair of Nikes

Graduating from Payless to name brand shoes was the change from Elementary to Middle School in my family lol there was no going back after that. It was like Eve finding out she was naked. Me looking down and realizing the shoes on my feet were a target for bullying if I didn’t buy them from the mall was a strong and memorable realization!

I never paid attention to the fact that it said “Payless ShoeSource” lol I just called it Payless!

Bottom line: poor quality for too high of prices.

Current (and soon to be former) Payless employee in the States - I got hired in January of this year and holy shit. You aren't wrong about nobody respecting Payless - our customers are some of the rudest goddamn penny pinchers on the face of the earth. It's exacerbated too because a lot of our equipment is almost 2 decades old. You want a shoe we don't have in store and we don't know the lot number for? We have to use our own cell phones to go on website to look for them, which is great because we don't have wifi and bad cell signal. Also everyone just chucks their trash all over the place despite having trashcans literally right next to them but I digress. Since I've been hired they have completely cut out at least 2 entire rows of upper management, and halved the amount of store leaders in our district. My manager was basically given the choice a couple months ago to either "quit" (phrased so they didn't have to pay unemployment) or manage 2 stores with pretty much zero warning. Employees are paid like garbage, and generally treated like garbage, and if we have any issue it gets put through a whole rodeo of being ignored. For instance, our ceiling tiles have literally collapsed in due to rain leakage from the roof, or our fire extinguisher being 2 years out of date. We had a tech issue once where they sent us FIVE SEPARATE PRINTERS because they didn't believe us when we said the problem was with the computer. And that doesn't even count when in August there was an accidental mainframe shutdown that has now put us in a situation there are some ridiculous number of shipping containers of backed up product that they are putting on us to sell in half the time it would normally go out. Those 40% off sales? That's why those are happening. We're drowning in our own product. The shoes have also considerably declined in quality to the point I cannot wear them to work if I want to walk the next day. I make a point to wear my Adidas' in store just so that I can live at this point. I'll be happy to tap dance on the grave of this place once it goes - maybe it has better standards in other states or countries but in my experience Payless is easily the second worst retail job I've ever held and I'll be happy to see it collapse under the weight of it's own abuse. And I didn't even get into half of the things that have happened there while I've been working tbh.

I remember payless shoes being a good spot for skate shoes. For a time they had airwalks, comverse and occasionally DCs which were (at the time) pretty good. Skaters shred shoes, I usually burn through 3 a year at least. So buying 3 pairs for under 100$ (cad) was great! Then one day, I walk into my local payless and found the selection to be complete shit, mostly heels. And for a while (at least in my area) they became a women’s shoe store and now… my local payless is out of business, there’s a taco restaurant there now

Wow. Just wow. I also read it as payless shoe store.

Foot Locker *booted* them out.

can you do one to explain how Champion went from a bargain brand to a hip streetwear brand?

Yes, during my childhood, being suspected of wearing Payless shoes was sure to get you mocked, ridiculed, and bullied.

When I was a kid until I was perhaps 13, my parents got me shoes from Payless. They fell apart so quickly that they decided to start buying me more expensive Reeboks... which lasted much, much longer to the point where they honestly were cheaper because they didn't need to be replaced so quickly. So, other folks may also have realized cheap shoes aren't cheap in the long run.

I also feel like their stores look antiquated. Besides the logo change, the stores themselves (at least in my area) still look exactly the same as they did when my mom took me there in the 90s. Same fixtures, same carpet, same overall dingy look. It may not have looked too bad 20 years ago, but today it just doesn't look like a pleasant place to walk around in. I've found Fabco to look more modern inside actually.

Parents:were going to payle- Me: WE GOT SHOES AT HOME

My parents were pretty poor back then, so shopping in Payless was a common practice. But man were the shoes cheaply made. Got corns on a foot once. Never again, after that since my parents were able to find financial stability after finishing a heavy mortgage. It never evolved with the time and then there were shoe stores like Shoe Warehouse and Shoe Company in Canada popping up. Also Winners aka Canadian version of TJ Max started appearing where they did sell shoes.

The growth of Ross, TJ Maxx, and Marshalls did not help either.

It's sad to see Payless decline. My son has multiple disabilities. He often needs half sizes and wide width, which I can never find at Walmart or Target. Also he didn't have the fine motor skills to be able to tie until recently so velcro shoes were a necessity for his independence. He is in his pre-teen years and velcro shoes are hard to find in kid's shoes after a certain age. Payless always came through for us. I know if we go there we will find a pair of shoes that he likes and fits all of his needs, usually for under $25. I noticed some comments on how the shoes fall apart easily. We've never had that problem, he's always outgrown them before they fell apart (and he's rough on his shoes, gets a lot of use out of them). I have noticed that when we go, or even when I've driven by, they are never busy. I've had this nagging question in my mind for a while "how much longer will they last". I hope for my son's sake they will last another few years or until he is able to wear more common shoes.

I loved payless, until they raised prices, started putting out only 1 ugly design, & let quality drop to worse than walmart.

It was my favorite place to buy shoes FOREVER!! I legit cried when o found out they were going out of business. As a single woman... I used them to look cute and in style!! As a mom of 2 I used them to keep up with the constant growing kids!!! They will be something I miss FOREVER!!

has anyone seen that news about payless opening a FAKE Luxury shoe store with Payless shoes to see if customer's would like them and pay like hundreds more for them. check it out. it's very interesting. it's a news clip on RU-vid

Yeah, if you had shoes from Payless, you were mocked back in school. It meant you were too poor to have "real" shoes from places like Nordstroms or Kohl's.

I used to go there.. but then they started to push cheap glued together china shoes. The current mens shoes are pure garbage.

When you're from the woods, anything bought at a mall was automatically cooler than what you could get locally since it took an hour to get there. Whether you told them if something was from Payless or JC Penney was up to you.

It seems many of these stories go the same way: 1. Company is bought by private equity firms 2. Company files for bankruptcy

I remember getting my shoes at payless as a kid because I grew up poor. It was a great store! I really hope Payless doesnt go out of business!

When Payless was going under at the local mall a European came in and bought thousands of dollars of shoes to take back to Europe. I think that’s bootlegging

Yeap, I remember that 'you got your shoes from payless,' in elementary school, but my parents didn't care, I hated that store since then.

I once bought a pair of winter boots at payless on clearance for $7.00 that lasted me 3 years. Only reason i no longer have them anymore is i left them at an ex's house. Because of this I'm unable to make fun of payless.

Kids hated them, I got teased all the time 🎶"Payless shoes ain't got no grip, you gon fall n bust ur lip"🎶 Scared me for life 😣

While I raised my children this was my go to store,being a single parent of 4,it was the best place to get school shoes,backpacks,socks and purses. I loved payless,until walmart,slowed down the place for reasonably priced shoes for my family,we buy what we buy you buy what you buy,yes I do and will shop at payless. I do not shop online. I really enjoy shopping in stores and catalogs too!!

1950's: Payless Shoesource 2010's: Paymore Shoesource

I’m a 6’2 female with size 12 shoes Payless was the only place that sold affordable shoes my size

In elementary school we would insult each other by saying "yo momma's so poor she couldn't afford to shop at payless".

"Payless Shoe Store" vs "Payless Shoesource" Mandela Effect, anyone...? I always thought it was Shoe Store too!

Payless shoes turned into Paymore shoes with poor quality and lack of styles of shoes.

Yes, I knew Payless ShoeSource very well, as I worked for them for 25 years. I’ll tell you where the problems seriously began, and that was when Matt Rubell was brought on board as CEO. Not that the circumstances in the video didn’t exist, but Rubell’s tenure was the last nail in the coffin, or if you prefer the last bit of glue on the shoe. After his ouster, the next CEOs and senior management were never able to build a viable turnaround model to escape the inevitable. Now Payless, not counting some Latin America locations, etc. which remain open, will join that long list of defunct US retailers. If I had a highlight of those 25 years, it was being sent to manage our new location in the Florida Keys, halfway between Key Largo and Key West. I was there for years and had an incredible time!

I once said playless shoe store when I was seve and my mom corrected me. And I said whoever named it that should be fired for picking a dumb name. And I remember the adults in the room kinda made fun of me..... So the opening to your video was such a validating experience....

I thought I was alone (Or that civilization had forgotten) that getting your shoes at PayLess was a source of mockery during middle school, so I'm intensely pleased that you mentioned that. It's such a silly thing to tease someone about, looking back on it as an adult, but kudos to you for addressing the lack of perceived respectability as a potential revenue loss. I totally get it.

Rude employees, off brand shoes, high prices. Enough said.

I was always complimented on the shoes I got from Payless 😕. I feel like I'm the only one that's really sad to see it going down hill.

You hit the nail on the head when you spoke about people getting ridiculed for purchasing shoes from Payless. I vividly recall the jokes in middle school about how, if someone’s shoes looked weird or dirty, they were wearing “some Payless-ass shoes.” Of course, this is rude and unacceptable on a personal level. But as a shoe store, you CANNOT lose your ability to sell to children, who are the highest consumers of shoes.

9:15 preach!!! People would get bullied for having Payless shoes

Payless became PayMORE! They priced their selves out of business with that over priced, cheaply made crap.

I thought it was "Shoestore" too. All these years of walking by, walking in, and seeing commercials, and i didn't realize it was "Shoesource".

I remember getting most of our shoes there when I was a kid. Later on I would get picked on for buying shoes there so I started asking for brand shoes. But I remember my dad visiting and buying some airwalk shoes and I was so happy with them lol

As of December 2019 all the locations near me are closed and they are now urgent care centers

Payless in the Philippines is more like pay-more 🙄