Many of us remember always wanting those cool light up shoes as kids, and for me, one of the most vivid memories of my childhood is picking up my own pair at Payless ShoeSource. This store was a kid’s dream with sparkly shoes and all the coolest styles. My parents seemed to love the store too because of the great prices and deals, especially since I have three younger siblings too. Between the colorful displays, the seemingly unlimited number of shoes this store seemed to have, and the amount of fun I had playing hide and seek with my siblings between the aisles, this store holds many vivid memories for me (and probably you as well).
Despite all the great memories these stores may hold, the brand recently announced that it will be closing all of its locations within the next month due to bankruptcy. There are currently 2,100 locations that will all be closed by the end of May. For those of us who still shop at Payless, we now will need to turn to other stores to purchase shoes at an affordable price. The good news is that many locations are having “Going Out of Business Sales” currently. So with that being said, feel free to stop by your closest location to take advantage of these deals one last time!
Take the time to think for a minute about all of the other stores from our childhood that are slowly closing as well. Radio Shack, closed! Toys R Us, closed! Brands such as Macy’s K-Mart, Gymboree, Charlotte Russe and Sears are also in the process of closing. Take a moment to let that sink in.
This store closing shows us that online businesses can be the reality for many of us in the future. Due to companies such as Amazon.com or other retailers that give the customer the advantage of ordering their items with the click of a button, many businesses do not see the need for physical locations. A great example is Uber, which is an extremely successful company today, especially for most of us as college students. They also do not own a physical location, but rather, they function using an iPhone app.
This recent announcement of closing can invoke many memories; however, I believe that this announcement of closing is foreshadowing something much greater, a world of online shopping community. I know it may be scary at first, but we live in a world now where all you need to create a successful business is an idea and a little bit of imagination.
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