The Decline of Payless...What Happened?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 พ.ย. 2018
- Payless ShoeSource is the largest store of its kind in the United States but has recently had some tough times. Within the past few years Moody’s has lowered their credit rating multiple times, they’ve closed 800 stores, and filed for bankruptcy. This video takes a look at their rise and fall and attempts to provide explanations for all of it.
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Intro Made By - / @jombo1
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.
YES you hit it right on the nail, trying to be expense like name brand, that's why you call yourself payless not pay more.
Hell yes I stop shopping in Payless I don't miss them. I moved on.
I can NEVER recall them being the "cheaper" option.
Exactly, I was buying Payless the shoes would fall apart or lose their effectiveness within a month so I started buying sketchers which were the same price and lasted me a year, now I buy Brooks or Hokas which is astronomical in price but I'm on my feet for work every day so comfort is above price point for me now.
Facts!
Anyone remember that “Payless smell”
Me too! I’m not the only one who remembers that!
Yea...shit
Yup
Oh yeah
Yea, poor people smell bad 😈
I feel bad for today's parents. Payless helped my mom stay within her budget while we were growing up.
Same here. I loved Payless. I still have a couple pairs of heels I bought from there in 2015
Really? Cause Payless was always pretty high when I was growing up. My mom always called it "Paymore"
Most people who want cheap shoes probably will go to Walmart might not be $3 but they do have some cheap shoes
They're way more expensive than Walmart tho
Same! I’m one of three siblings so it helped my parents buy us new shoes all the time.
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. 😭
Lol I had the clear 4 stripes 😂😭
@@Nerdbabe91 I had the black on white 😬
I used to wear Pro-wings from there as a kid. They were actually pretty decent quality.lol. we used to sing the My adidas song by run DMC on the school bus when it first came out loud as hell on that cheese bus. Our bus aide was cool about it too.
😭😭😭😭😭
@@MissDarlaDeville lmfao🤣🤣
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
Ms Chaotic i feel the same way. This video made me kind of melancholy because I enjoyed going there with my mom, who also worked at a shoe store when she was younger. It feels sad and nostalgic, honestly, to hear that they’ve closed down.
Ms Chaotic this comment makes me feel bad for how tough I am with my parents now. I used to buy shoes from Payless and I in general feel bad that I ask my parents for more expensive shoes😞
@@JessIsInsanelyBored closed down? They're still around, just not as big anymore. It's no Woolworths.
I honestly got my first pair of heels from payless. Admittedly they won’t heels but wedge’s and they were damaged the next day but it was still a special moment to a 10 year old.
You obviously didn't play sports. My mom tried buying me a cheap pair of shoes for basketball and I was sliding on the floor like it was ice. I cried until she bought me a better pair. Same with baseball shoes. Cheap shoes just won't due.
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?
Laetitia Davion
You pay a decent price for terrible quality shoes. Shoes that don’t last long. Shoes that aren’t all that comfortable to wear. Some shoes are comfortable but regardless the shoes don’t last.
I agree prices went up
You can get the same quality garbage shows at Walmart for around $20 to $30.
Some of these shoes are comfortable to wear at 1st. Problem is the shoes still wear out too fast.
I would say good if you have growing up kids who will outgrow the shoe soon.
Great if you need dress shoes or shoes for a special occasion where you won’t wear them besides that.
Or okay shoes to wear lounging around or if you drive for that quick trip to the store.
Damn straight savage 🔥🔥🔥
The quality did increase. Some prices still did seem a bit too high though.
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?!?
Yes this was definitely a scam saw it with my own eyes
That's so gross
*rental service with no fee
@@flowerpower4071 a
Nordstrom does the same thing at their full line retail stores. Lol they’re slowly falling apart too.
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 🙏
Payless has been long gone before a DDs ever came around!
Agreed on some point because I don't know when these other places came in but if Payless was still around they definitely wouldn't be anymore because of these stores
Not to mention stores like Wal-Mart and Target selling shoes, granted lower quality, for cheaper
what's DD?
Their return policy sucked!
“What are thooseee” was their downfall
😂
Ahhaaha
😭😭😂😂
🚫🧢👍🏿😂☠
Best comment! 😂
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.
Sarah L exactly. That’s why I quit going there too. It’s not pay less. It’s pay the same as saving myself a trip.
Walmart for cheap shoes, just keep the receipt, so you can return when they fall apart.😁
Yep!!
Sarah L AMEN! me too!
I think they often expected people to come in with coupons and shop sales and so they increased the prices of their shoes to balance it out. However, I think they fell victim to their own convoluted pricing structure because it put off a large portion of what would have been regular shoppers.
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.
same but in like 2009
Same here. I'm Asian and most Asian feet are small so it was hard for me to find my size here. i often had to wait orders from my relative in the US. Payless was a blessing here.
My mom took us kids (four of us) to Payless all throughout the 2000s and 2010s. We were all tall, with big feet, and we all grew A LOT. It was nearly impossible to keep up with all four of us growing up super quickly, and us older three are close together in age. Payless was my favorite store to go as a kid who has always hated shopping, because it was never crowded and we didn’t have to have any assistance while shopping. I was very sad when the stores around us closed a few years ago.
When I was a little girl a Stride-Rite shoe salesman was looking for shoes for me. He thought it was funny to yell across the store, " Do EEE Wide shoes for little girls even exist?!" Obviously I never forgot the shoe salesman who publicly ridiculed my feet.
I remember we would only go to Payless for sandals. Payless had some cute sandals.
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.
That's what I said,l. It made no sense to buy ugly, cheap shoes there when I could buy nice, name brand cheap shoes at Ross.
True
You didn't miss a thing, Payless shoes ARE cheap. I never had a pair last beyond the 4 month mark. For the same price as Payless I could get "real" brand shoes at places like DSW, certain sneakerhead type shops and sporting goods stores that also sell shoes like Big 5 does
True...my daugthers purchased shoes at that store, but the quality was poorly and did not last long🙈
Facts some of my shoes are so cute and people ask me where I get it from... if I told them I got them at Marshalls for less than $30 they’d flip 😭
It came to a point when it wasn’t “ less”. They had prices comparable with DSW who sells name brand shoes.
Lisa Johnson yes their shoes started to become expensive as hell.. but I honestly like Payless .
Seem like to me when Star Jones started being their spokes person and their commercials the price of their shoes increase. I guess they had to pay Star for her endorsements
Yes, & honestly wasn't impressed with what they were selling when the prices kept rising!
@@athenahathorn7329 Just for her to drop off the face of the planet
That's true.. They're pretty much the only source for women's shoes in my size. Dsw is just too expensive
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 😭
Lmaooo kids in school used to roast tf out of kids w payless shoes and sing that
😂😂😂😂
@Busy Bodies! 😂
@Simply Put wow. Didnt know that
I never heard that song, sounds like a fun childhood. I grew up wearing Pro-wings. Until I got to about 7th grade. Lol
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.
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.
Or buy online for cheaper. Payless is too much money..everytime I try to go, I never find something worth my money and they are all $20+ and have pretty limited styles.
They had sales and coupons. They changed their model to accommodate coupon's. I used to buy three and four pairs of shoes for 50 bucks or less with coupons and BOGO. They allowed BOGO and coupons to combine.
like Kmart.
Who paying 50 bucks i never seen shoes more then 20 bucks at payless
@@impossiblegaming2042
They had some boots at 50. But Payless did BOGO with up to 30% off on top sales all the time so a pair of boots and flats might cost you 42 bucks.
The main reason is that their prices went way up.
Yea, they got greedy
15$ more for pieces of cheap garbage lol 😂 “way up” wow
Their prices went up probably because they had to pay off all this debt.
If you got a shitty product you can't just bump up the price without bumping up the quality. I used to buy Payless shoes in the past but none of the shoes I bought made it past the 6 month mark, no matter how I wore them. Even their dressy shoes and work shoes disintegrated in record time. The straw that broke the camel's back was the pair of slip on type walking sneakers I got for work that bled black dye like crazy in the rain and fucked up the pair of khakis I had on for work. The ends of my pant legs looked like I dunked them in a tub of black clothing dye.
Right 😂 I saw some heels for 45.00....
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.
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
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...
Def can relate...same thing in my school years
Like I said in the comment I made in elementary school for me having shoes that lit up were the coolest thing ever!!! So I loved shopping at payless then. But as I got older it changed
WHAT ARE THOSE?????
They said Walmart shoe
It's weird how little kids can be so obsessed with brand names.
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
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.
I really miss Payless and the designer they hired. His shoes were classic and classy. In my area we were told a Canadian company purchased them. Please allow us to at least buy them on line.
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...
Time cards?
@@ishmaelm1932 The way employees would check in/out of work before the digital age, used to be a physical piece of paper that would be punched out via a special clock. They're saying Payless cheated employees on pay and got sued over it.
@@RIKUX3
That's insane. Wouldn't an employee know instantly? I mean you are being paid 9 an hour and worked 40 hrs a week. Do the math and know the taxes being taken out. How the hell did payless think they could get away with That?
Remeber getting champion shoes from Payless.... Damn those were the days
rock and roll jasllybeth I remember kangaroos and air walks
Mike what are you talking about? My mom would get me those from there when I was like in the 4th grade. That and airwalks. That was over 30 years ago.
And getting the air jobans
@@arios1977 You're old!
I remember This kid called My Champions From Payless Fake🙈💅👁👄👁
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.
Yeah, they would dye the shoes to match the color of whatever fabric swatch you brought in.
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
The one near me in Henderson closed and was replaced by a Starbucks.
came to say this!
I've never seen or heard of DC being in Payless, and the Converse were called "One Stars" not "All- Stars" so they weren't considered a bargain brand or hurt their image, which happened to AirWalk. Nobody really bought Airwalks after that. These days, they're still kicking, but you have to go online to get them. I ordered some Mid cut Gum "The One" shoes
@@shuruff904 I had a pair of one stars. It was the equivalent of walking on steel.
definately remember buying Airwalks from Payless
Payless was big when adults and kids were innocent/naive, when we didn't care what brand or quality the others used to wear.
But see that's what I don't get. So we homeschool our kids and I've got kids from 21 years old to 15 months old, there's thousands of homeschoolers just in my County, and we get together and hang out and I've met hundreds and hundreds of kids and I have never known of a homeschooler to care about name brands or anything like that. What is it about the public schools that makes kids this way?
@@louisacapell social hierarchy; kids with money talk about their money, making everyone thing they either suck or are amazing. The ones that people like give a good name to the expensive stuff, and it gets a good reputation.
@@paultran3756 your comment wasnt clear. Try again please.
So my guess would be the people with the money show off their money through expensive items like designer shoes, watches, etc, and other people follow suit in wanting these things, or if the people come off as too showy, the exact opposite happens.
I remember those days. No one gives a damn if you're wearing tacky knock-offs, candy jewelry, or even mismatched crocs back then.
R.I.P Payless. Thank you for my ballet shoes, tap shoes, school & church shoes!! You always show up when I needed you!
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
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!
Unfortunately that's the real reason. Once kids started finding out they were going to keep getting bullied simply for wearing non name brand shoes they just stopped wearing them. The sad reality is that most people want to wear well known name brands for social reasons. It had nothing to do with how the shoes looked, or the quality of the shoes, and everything to do with social pressure. The Payless vs. Palessi experiment proves that.
That happens mostly in trashy schools, because it's always the food stamp kids who had the most expensive shoes. Single mom with five kids and can't repair her car, but her kids have Air Jordans. Quite the class marker of the poor who will always stay poor and deserved their poverty.
Yep, all perception and does not have to be based on reality. Even adults, "fashionista influencers" recruited for their opinion that was clearly based on the price and the swanky presentation of the footwear.
"At THAT price they must be elegant & sophisticated" the said as they fawned over a shoe that otherwise sold for $19.99 to $39.99 that they willingly paid $645 for.
THAT is where these kids get the punk attitude to bully others for what shoes they wear. Way back when I was in school, grade school to H.S., I do not recall anyone being bullied for the shoes or clothes they wore.
I'm not saying there wasn't a snide remark from individuals here and there, but I'd never seen it myself and we had our share of kids from poorer families with the discount shoes, and of course there were those kids with well off parents that would have whatever was 'in style' back in its day.
@@EliCamacho
I feel like if they would’ve kept their prices low they would’ve been okay.
I agree. They should have kept their mediocre quality as well but they didn't. Instead, their quality worsened.
Cost of living goes up do does expenses. That includes ordering shoes
@@tessatheartist33 In that case I think they should have cut quantity over quality. They kept their shelves fully stocked with barely wearable shoes until the end. It's like they wanted to go out of business.
Prices went up, quality remained cheap-knockoff with that scent of cardboard and cracked vinyl.
Yep they went from Payless to PayMore for bad quality shoes.
Update: it didn’t. They’re closed everywhere now.
No, still open in the Caribbean. I work there
theyre still on amazon as of 2020.
@@tessatheartist33 do you mean the Virgin islands?
Their is one couple miles from.my house outside of Pittsburgh
Payless is still open in most Middle Eastern countries (definitely still open in Egypt), but no one really shops there cause their prices are similar to actual name brand shoes and the quality isn’t that good
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.
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!!
I used to hate it when my parents brought me here to buy shoes LOL
Brandon Beavis Investing lol me too!!!
I think we all did hahaha
😂😂😂 omgosh same
ans now that I'm older and no longer care what kids think of my shoes, I have no problem shopping there haha
Yas queen
I remember being clowned at school for having payless shoes
sledge hammer kids can be assholes. I remember I got made fun of for wearing Puma sneakers. Yeah, they were a cheap brand, but so what?
Louis Laszlo Funny thing is that Puma has gone upmarket now and are pretty well respected.
Never had that happen all using brand had them shoplifting mine legit bought with cash. Ask and you'll see.
Prowings, XJ-900s? remember those?
This is another reason why public schools suck .
We homeschool, our kids have never been made fun of, or made fun of anyone for brand names. They dont care about any of that.
What is it about public schools that makes kids so shallow and petty and cruel?
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.
Heck, I'm a 90's baby and my co workers jaws *drop* and they get humbled _quick_ when I tell them it takes 30+ miles, 40+ minutes to be at a Publicx grocery store!
Yes, during my childhood, being suspected of wearing Payless shoes was sure to get you mocked, ridiculed, and bullied.
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....
And maybe that was deliberate- they specifically left the prize secret so they'd get more money.
Still, you'd think they'd get a higher price gift card.
Ha Ha. They were like, Psyche!
You all got scammed the teacher that did that robbed you kids with no mask.
@@AMaidenlessRunt like raffling candy from a baby 👶
Amazing
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! 😳
Holy cowwwww you literally summed up my story too. I just bought like 25 pairs at closing stores. Bummer!
PeaJayTheGr8 Lol pro wings
ProWings & Shaq's...Kee! Kee! Lol!"
I'm cracking up to myself.😂
SAMEE OMG I HATEDD THAT PLACE
Sorry you had to go through that bro but that's why I started by my own school clothes when I was in the sixth grade sorry you got clown for that but remember back in the day when you can go to a store that sold a variety of things and even shoes and you got shoes from out of that cage that was attached with a string and a silver clip in the center do you remember those days
Them: "You look like you got your shoes at Payless!" 🤣
Me: "I did." 😌 inner peace wins.
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!!
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
TELL IT!!!
you got good life..
Indeed. Thanks
Want a cookie?
Are you a Girl Scout or something?
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.
Well put.
Meanwhile, go to a store like redwings and get some shoes that will easily survive over three years of use every single day. I think mine are close to hitting 4 years actually.
I bought some shoes from them and by the FIRST month, the soles were in half, the front of both shoes were in half and the Velcro straps didn't work.
3/10 because I'm pretty sure you can get used and donated shoes at goodwill for a better quality
Maybe that is true of the ladies' shoes. Most of my men's shoes bought at Payless wore like iron,
I was going to post the same the reason they’re struggling is they’re shoes are really bad quality. You can probably get a cheap pair of doc martins it get a decent pair of shoes from Burlington and it will last you a lot longer and you’ll end up saving money in the long run.
It wasn't all off brand, they had some name brand shoes (usually closeout inventory). In 2005 I was a freshman in college and needed hiking boots...found a $200 pair of Columbia hiking boots at Payless for $50. Still have those boots, 15 years later...
Yes, and they had Christian Siriano shoes when he was just emerging as a designer. I have several pairs of his shoes. They are selling for much more on-line than I paid for them brand new.
I miss my Dexters lmao
@@UHoldThat That's that common core math on display.
@@cup_and_cone ? I can’t determine ur age unless i knew the age when u started college so wym guaranteed im better than u at math
Shout out to all the single moms and dads working their asses off who went to Payless so that their kid had new shoes instead of hand me downs or thrift store shoes.
"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.
VulpesHilarianus It’s a gunshot wound to the chest. Sometimes hits the heart and slays quickly, sometimes doesn’t and leads to a drawn out death where they can’t breathe and slowly suffocate. It’s always tragic, though sometimes it’s over with quickly and easily, and sometimes it’s a drawn out and agonizing fall where all anyone can do is watch... it’s sad really.
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.
Hahhahaa yup those soles would rip clean off ahahhaahaha
@@dloren6183 lmao
The soles were cardboard bottoms. I remember when i was younger getting dress shoes to wear to work and i swear it was like standing on concrete. No support whatsoever.
I'm sorry but i never laughed so hard!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😭😭
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
I once went into Payless...once. I asked the clerk for where the 'good shoes' were, i.e. the quality ones? She looked at me as if I'd asked for a Brooks Brothers suit at K-Mart. She in essence said, fine leather, great design...umm, we don't sell that. Great store...
Why mock the store. You were the uninformed one.
Definitely a you problem
My mom took me here about every year growing up for school.
Same😂
We all must have the same mom 🤔😂
Yup...same! 👌
Yup and look you are on TH-cam telling the story :(
same!!! especially since I had a sister and they always had a bogo sale!
Cheap, uncomfortable shoes that look worn out after a short while, thats what happened. Don't even mention durability.
EXACTLY, i noticed it as well
I definitely noticed that when I bought a pair of work shoes that I needed ASAP from there for a new job,omg my feet were fucking hurting like crazy afterwards and I had to call out the next day lol I returned them ASAP the next day and never stepped back into that store ever again,I was so done from that experience.
had that happen to dress shoes I needed for cosplay. had to throw them out after half a year.. I have shoes but they sold me server shoes instead of shoes I needed for dishwasher/Scullery shoes, I blame the staff for telling me the wrong kind. never again I'm buying there. even Walmart shoes last longer and are good from what a coworker told me. she had her shoes from Walmart for years
Exactly, last pair I had from them the lining on the inner padding wore out super fast up by the top of the shoe and the foam padding inside was rough and abrasive and across the days at work rubbed my ankles raw to the point I got a blood infection
The penny loafers would REALLY STINK after a short while due to the glue that was used. It would be too embarrassing to wear them at work after a short while because they wore down easily and smelled like I walked through garbage. Payless was a necessity for my first years of working, but I don’t miss them that much...
I moved to the US in 1999. My mom knew Payless well because it was the only place she could buy size 13 shoes that looked cute. I grew up wearing their shoes. I was actually sad to see them go.
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 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.
That's a sad story. It's so hard to go against the crowd when you're a kid, but damn... Your favorite player does something awesome to help out his fans who might not have a lot of money. I had never heard that story, but Olajuwon deserves huge props for that awesome gesture and empathy with the kids who would struggle to afford Nike's etc. Shit, I practically want to track down a pair of them today, and I don't even wear basketball shoes!
ShadowPresident 420 I know peer pressure is a beast. You might still be able to find a pair of Olajuwons on EBay.
Oh shit I think I remember those ?? Didn't they pump up??
Brian Spellburgio Naw. I might have been open to getting them if they did because the Reebok pumps were so expensive.
brian thomas now I remember they made these Spalding pumps
They're too expensive. Even when they were going out business,the prices were still high.
Marchelle Upshaw I never really cared for Payless.
I went to one of their liquidation sales to buy shoes for my brother's wedding. I ended up buying a decent pair of shoes at Burlington for less than the severely marked-down stuff at Payless.
Do you want shoes cheaper than that? Thrift store can give that. Google it
@@victoriapalferez-siri5952 we you can get planters warts from second hand shoes and that herpes strain can stat alive for over a year
@@HackerActivist Thanks for advice, but I am healthy and never caught anything of that sort in the thrift shop purchase. Because they also have sealed and news shoes donated by stores close down or super cheap brands. When I have been force into financial crisis several times living in Florida (long story) I have to purchase things there for an important meeting or work interview and make sure are new items, safe me tons of money. If Payless is too expensive that also is an option, if no Walmart cheap racks, just be careful with items you get, the aim is saving money and get what you want Normally I shop in JC Penny, Macy's or Neiman Marcus after Fifth ave close stores in Florida Mall. Good luck to you....
As someone who is now in their 40s, I love Payless. Can you believe some kids will pay 300 for a pair of shoes.
I miss Payless! It's been a few years now, but that loss hurt me. I'm a woman who wears size 12! I liked trying my shoes on before buying them. I have no choice now but to buy from the internet and take my chances...
When kids got caught wearing Payless or Skechers at my elementary school, it was OVER 😭
same thing with k-mart and their awful off brand outdated stuff.
Sketchers are pretty popular in my school though.
That's what is wrong with this country. Worrying about shit that doesn't matter.
I was grown up in the LA hood do we didn’t really mind cause none of us had money in till like 5 grade
My elementary town was all poor. We didn't have that problem. lol
That Payless smell. The scent of savings.
You just remind me my mom bought me shoes from payless when i was middle school in Puerto Rico. The smell of those shoes so bad of chemical. i only used one time because smell so overwhelming my nickname for those shoes where CHEMIC. Oh good time, lol.
@@SuperMegaSammy lmfao. They were calling you CHEMIC, i would fell out laughing if it was me. 😁
@@SuperMegaSammy El Chemic 🤣🤣🤣
No payless visit was complete without a few good lungfulls of formaldehyde vapour!
If you weren't coughing and didn't have a runny nose by the end of the visit you're doing it wrong
Startegist I'm like the only one that likes the smell of entering a Payless🙃
Keep doing videos bro, I’ve been watching you for over a year and I enjoy each and every video you drop. Keep it up!
first off I want to say how thankful I am that you made this video, good job. I do have some nice memories of this store. Maybe some of them are blanketed in nostalgia or weekend fun, since most family shopping trips were on the weekends, but I still have lots of great memories there. Also no, none of the kids ever made fun of my shoes but I did get picked on for some other reasons. I was always a different kid and I liked to stand out, unfortunately not everyone liked me doing it. Even wearing off-brand shoes was part of my rebellion against what others told me I should do! I'm still proud of my rebellion even if it didn't always get the best reception. Anyways going to Payless was great especially if we could go right to Burger king afterwards, they were close by each other in my neighborhood!
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.
@I. Wynn Wynn I've never heard of that brand. I don't know anyone who uses it.
@I. Wynn Wynn I don't know what airwalk is.
@Cosmo! Oh, so that's why I've never heard of airwalk.
Really? I Remember Getting some light-up Sketchers at Payless for my cousin.
Exactly. I'd rather buy $60 nikes than $50 shoes from Payless. Payless shoes weren't cheap anymore so what was the point?
As soon as you said "private equity firm" I was like, ah, the vultures have descended.
None of these videos that include "aquired by private equity firm" ends well lol
Payless had a store in a small mountain town in California. They went out of business about 2-3 years ago. They had a sale to close out the store and priced a lot of their shoes at 10$ but not everything in the store was supposed to be 10$. A new employee was left at the cash register by herself and didn’t understand that not everything was 10$. They sold almost everything that day because of Facebook. Once the word got out everyone bought several pairs and other items.
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.
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 😭
“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
No, it was shoesource. And I know all about the Mandela effect. This isn't one.
No it has always been shoesource. Put away your tin foil hat
Always been ShoeSource
I mean...I still feel like shoes over $30 are overpriced lol
What do you mean? That is overpriced!
Yup. The "you look like you shop at Payless" was a major roast. Remember the Shaqs? Bruh, if you got caught with those on, it was over for you until graduation.
I actually miss Payless so much. I have to buy my shoes in wide width, and they had such a great selection. It was before online shopping was a huge thing, and I could actually find shoes that fit. It's still kind of a tricky thing to find in store. RIP.
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 .
Lol I remember they had the Shaquille O’Neal brand shoes 🤣
I remember no one wanted those
Brooklynballa da fubus 😂😂😂
If you wore knock off payless shoes it was a blaze fest at school
Yea like their adidas knock offs had four stripes lmao!
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.
Same. I wear a 10w am
Cramming my feet into a regular ten is hell after 20 steps. Skechers is so much better for people with wide feet.
'I found better styles in Wal-Mart '
@Mark Gibson because shoe size is something you can control 🤣 how stupid can people be?
My mom always got my shoes from Payless growing up. As an active child, they would be fully ripped and broken after eight months. Of course, as some comments have mentioned, they really helped parents who had tight budgets.
8 months...surprised that they lasted that long...
I think another issue is, their shoes were creeping up to $30-$50. In the 90's Nordstrom Rack and DSW became more relevant and were selling name brands at prices close to Payless.
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.
Hell mine still uses the old Yello logo.
I agree. Its still painfully stuck in the last century🤷♀️
I hate fabco
Parents:were going to payle-
Me: WE GOT SHOES AT HOME
James Corrigan 🤣🤣👍
Shoes at home: *ripped up new balances*
😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄 hilarious ❗
Lmaoooooooooo
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
I haven’t shopped at Payless in years but it was a go to for my aunt who raised me. Never cared for it but I never paid! Childhood memories ♥️
In the boroughs of NYC, it was popular with adult males. I bought shoes there often until they closed. It seems like every time I went in, the store was filled with women buying shoes for their kids, and adult males buying shoes for themselves (sometimes with their wives). The styles of men's shoes were pretty decent, and the prices were pretty cheap up until the last couple of years when their prices weren't really that much different than other budget shoe outlets.
It seems many of these stories go the same way:
1. Company is bought by private equity firms
2. Company files for bankruptcy
Slowly killing the business by charging fake debt to the company to pay them dividends. Doesn't matter if the company can recover or not, the owners are just exploiting a bottomless moneyhole with as much as they can get away with before writing it all off with the bankruptcy. Should be illegal IMO.
I’m not sure how it was even legal for them to force Payless to take on debt just to pay them a dividend. Someone needs to look into that.
@@cattysplat boy if I could +1 this to the top maybe more people would see it, but YOU have concisely stated the fact
Yes private equity buys them an raids them! Even to the point of adding more debt. Ludicrous! Has happened several times
@@getlosttrails Well you all have Reagan to thank for this bullshit. This shit started happening when Wall Street was deregulated in the '80s. Under the old laws, it WAS illegal.
I loved payless, until they raised prices, started putting out only 1 ugly design, & let quality drop to worse than walmart.
Who didn't see this coming? I haven't bought anything from them in years. My memories of them involve shoes that won't last 3 months.
Completely agree, their prices actually went way up in the last so many years. I would go there still but Wal-Marts shoes are the same quality and a much better price.
Walmart seems to compete on this level also. Their shoes don't last as long, and their inventory/sizes are abysmal. Walmart shoes: worse than Payless.
@@xygomorphic44 I still have the last shoes I bought from them. They get lots of compliments but never "broke in" & stayed so hard I couldnt wear them long. That's probably why they haven't fallen apart yet.
However, I have ballet flats from about 10 years ago that are still great, even after performing on pavement. I forget my main pair sometimes, so I've bought spare flats from Payless many times since then, but they fell apart in a year, even though they didn't seem thinner.
I'm no shoe expert, but they used to have plenty of good quality/great value shoes that I still have today. I can't say good things about them or their suppliers now.
Payless was the store I’ll go to when I needed slip resistant shoes for my job
I also feel like what hurt Payless was the fact that they became the punchline in so many jokes.
Foot Locker *booted* them out.
Lol
Ba dum TSS!
Yeah because their shoes last longer than month without getting holes
Killa Klown yeah they’re cheap shoes
Foot locker is going down too.
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.
Oh my god at the intro of your video, I paused it to tell my friend “I always thought it was Payless Shoe Store” the when I resumed the vidoe you said it not a moment soon in the next sentence. That’s freaking hilarious!!🤣🤣🤣
I worked there and hated it! Glad to hear the good news that Payless went bankrupt! Stores like DSW has better selection and quality. When I left I was 1000% happier not having a job lined up than I was making money. Anyway I was transferring to another city for college so it's good that I wasn't an employee there.
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
Bobos.
"Also their shoes don't last very long. Can go through 4 pairs of Payless or one pair of Nikes"
That has been my experience too. Stopped going there years ago. I now buy only quality shoes and actually spend LESS money overall.
Demo Demo Even a pair of good converse will outlast a couple pairs of Payless shoes! I remember being embarrassed of having airwalks from them
Demo Demo I wear boots and have had the same pair for 3 years now
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 :(
raven: Not really. Payless shoes are not known to be long-lasting and durable.
See, that's where I think parents need to be a bit better educated. Quality footwear (anatomically correct and made out of good pliable leather or fabric) is extremely important in developing healthy feet and a correct stride. I wouldn't pinch pennies on children's shoes. Actual clothes - yeah, just get them simple cotton things that are cheap, no need for brand names. But shoes, I wouldn't get cheap Chinese plastic shit. Idk where you're from but we have thrift stores specifically for baby/children's clothes and other related items to help young poor parents. The stuff is usually either barely worn or new and you can find good quality things for cheap.
'Payless ShoeSource' is def the Mandella Effect at work lol but i also chuckled when he said "you look like you got your shoes from payless!"
I liked payless when I was younger. That's where I got most of my shoes as a kid and that's where I got my airwalk sneakers that I loved (the ones that look like converse) which lasted me almost ten years. But now when I walk into Payless, it's all boring shoes
The growth of Ross, TJ Maxx, and Marshalls did not help either.
facts. you can get brand name shoes for Payless prices at ross/marshalls/tj maxx/burlington. especially clearance stuffs
Love those stores. I refuse to pay retail.
Yeah I went to Ross yesterday, and then I found a pair of retail $120 Adidas EQT shoes for $49.99, and I almost got them...
Target and DSW, too. Maybe Nordstrom Rack also, to a lesser extent.
G F yep. I just bought a really nice pair of puma tennis shoes for like 30$ from Ross this morning.
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!
Umm... that might be because of Black Friday? I work in a liquor store in Canada, and did Black Friday early with everything 25% off. Might be a week long Black Friday sale in that sitch, seen plenty of them.
@@jasonjones9197 not with hand written signs and stuff though. It also doesn't appear the stores are getting restocked. They looked like a liquidation sale inside except there are no actual "going out of business signs".
My local Payless has a 25 Percent sale going on so I suppose mine will be alright. But then again I haven't been to Payless in 8 years. makes me feel old
Kinda like at 2:30 in the video
Just to let you know, I subbed to you too!
Payless has left a very small impression on me. The only one I knew of was a weird standalone location in Pigeon Forge. It was right in the middle of several tourist-themed businesses like The Track, but it was also a short distance from the mall which is now mostly closed. The Payless is now closed and the building houses the Pink Jeep Tour. It goes without saying, I didn't realize it was called "Payless Shoe Source."
I remember at the beginning of every school year my mom used to take my brother and i to the local Payless in our small town. She was working as a waitress and was a single mom, so it was really all we could afford. I was sad to hear when our hometown store closed. Very affordable, and some of the shoes are actually nice!
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.
Rip my childhood
Here in the Philippines I think they're getting stable sales. I hope they don't close though.
@@DannieJulapz kailan lang nag-sale sila, is this a sign? Lol
Good riddance lol thats all I can say.
ChessRabbitt I just got a pair of Champion Shoes for $7 at Payless because they’re closing.
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 agree with you 100% percent are used to work there 15 years of my life for nothing.
Damn, I feel bad for you....
You gotta get a new job lol
Department of labor protections for whistleblowers, know ya rights
Current and also soon to be former employee. Our current employer’s name basically summarizes their behaviour. Payless for equipment, labour, ceiling tiles (we have to keep using our backroom tiles to replace the bad ones on the sales floor). Might I add that our walls are peeling, and that they took away our water cooler for seemingly no reason.
They’re closing out a store in a very popular touristy area that closely rivals us in sales, and we’re considered a profitable store out of all the ones in our district. Also dare I mention they won’t even send us printer paper or price tags anymore? And that they’re making us hand-write price tags now?
I also wanted to mention I too wear my adidas to work because my champions break a month or two in and my adidas are going 6-months+ strong.
And on an unrelated note, love the VA-11 HALL-A profile pic o/
you said payless was the second worst retail job youve had, whats the worst?
I loved payless! I've been a payless shopper since I was a kid my mom took me once in a while. Then I chose to go on my own. Theyd have cool looking shoes at a cheaper cost and generally lasted me a year or longer depending on my activity level. When I heard they were closing honestly i panicked a little inside. Where would i get my shoes now? I've never been a shoe girl first of all. I hate shoe shopping. Hate shoes, but need them. I have like maybe 6 pairs, all for different occasions (every day, exercise, formal, flip flops, slippers, you get it). I never cared about name brand. I cared about comfort and slightly stylish. I'd go to payless when it was time to replace something. I'd go to a stand alone location. Hate malls. Now, I have to go to a regular shoe store such as American Footwear, sometimes Kohls. Or I just go to vans directly since they're my style of choice. Screw going to walmart for shoes. Too busy. Too stressful. IMO, payless was neat and organized. Maybe it's just my area. But it was always a pleasant experience for me.
I agree with the branding thing. My nephew wanted the best brands for shoes when he was getting older.