Payless closing mall, Shopko shoe stores

Kalispell Center Mall’s Payless ShoeSource is holding a clearance sale for its final weeks of operation.

The in-store Shopko location of Payless in Evergreen also will be shutting down soon, as Payless announced Friday it was shuttering all 2,100 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Local Payless employees were instructed not to comment on the situation.

The Topeka, Kansas-based chain said Friday that liquidation sales were starting Sunday and it would also be winding down its e-commerce operations. All stores will remain open until at least the end of March and the majority will remain open until May.

The debt-burdened chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2017, closing hundreds of stores as part of its reorganization.

At the time, it had over 4,400 stores in more than 30 countries. It emerged from restructuring four months later with about 3,500 stores and eliminated more than $435 million in debt.

The company, founded in 1956, said the liquidation doesn’t affect its company’s franchise operations or its Latin American stores, which remain open for business as usual. It lists 18,000 employees worldwide.

The chain joins a list of familiar retailers such as Toys R Us and Bon-Ton that have closed in the last year.

Shoppers are increasingly shifting their buying online or heading to discount stores like T.J. Maxx to grab deals on name-brand shoes. That shift has hurt traditional retailers, even low-price outlets such as Payless. Heavy debt loads have also handcuffed retailers, leaving them less flexible to invest in their businesses.

But bankruptcies and store closures will continue through 2019 so there’s “no light at the end of the tunnel,” according to a report by Coresight Research.

Before this announcement, there have been 2,187 U.S. store closing announcements this year, with Gymboree and Ascena Retail, the parent of Lane Bryant and other brands, accounting for more than half the total, according to the research firm. This year’s total is up 23 percent from the 1,776 announcements a year ago. Year-to-date, retailers have announced 1,411 store openings, offsetting 65 percent of store closures, it said.