NEW: Retailer Payless to Close All 2,100 U.S. Stores, Including 20 in Southern N.E. UPDATED
GoLocalProv Business Team
NEW: Retailer Payless to Close All 2,100 U.S. Stores, Including 20 in Southern N.E. UPDATED
The bankruptcy filing would be Payless’ second since April of 2017.
Payless was found in 1956 and employs nearly 18,00 people across the country.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAccording to Reuters, going-out-of-business sales could begin next week. Other reports have the liquidation starting on Sunday.
CNBC is reporting, "Shoppers didn't spend as much as expected this past holiday season. Holiday sales were up just 2.9 percent in 2018, the National Retail Federation said on Thursday, on the heels of the Commerce Department announcing retail sales for December fell 1.2 percent, the largest decline since September of 2009. NRF, the retail industry's trade organization, had been calling for 2018 holiday sales, those from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, to rise between 4.3 and 4.8 percent."
Payless in RI
Payless ShoeSource has ten locations in Rhode Island and a total of 20 in Southern New England. Locations stretch from Newport to Providence Place Mall to Lincoln Mall.
Another Store Leaves Providence Place
Payless' closing marks the second store to leave the mall in just over a month after Nordstrom closed its doors in early January.
In June 2017, GoLocal wrote "Is Providence Place at Risk? Thousands of Retail Stores Close Across U.S."
This story was updated to reflect Payless has 2,100 stores in the United States. This story was first published 2/15/19 2:41 PM
What is the Future of Providence Place - 5 Scenarios - Jan, 2019
Scenario 1: Experience
Real Estate Consulting Firm AT Kearney Predicts one potential future for malls is:
“Think of this as a take on the traditional “flagship store experience.” Instead of a retailer, the anchor here is a compelling social experience—perhaps an indoor ski slope, roller coaster, concert space, or museum providing immersive, experience-based entertainment. It could also be home to specialty anchors like Bass Pro Shop, Lowe’s, or REI, where discovery, education, and experience are key components of the brand experience. Destination centers in operation today include Xanadu in Spain, the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, and the American Dream Center under construction in New Jersey and Miami.”
Scenario 2: Residential
“Retaildential” spaces target a specific consumer segment: say, young urban hipsters, single-and-staying-that-way 40-somethings, or retirees. These highly curated “life-stage centers” will offer a demographic-specific and appropriate set of retail, restaurants, entertainment, and services. For example, in senior-focused malls, senior housing would be augmented by medical services, pharmacies, exercise facilities, lawyers specializing in age-specific law, accountants specializing in estate planning, and community rooms. In Japan, developers such as Aeon Co. are already repurposing some of their malls to address the needs of that country’s advanced aging population."
Scenario 3: Dead, Gone and Buried
Forbes cites the dismal decline of one of America’s largest malls
Randall Park Mall in Ohio. When it opened in 1976, Randall Park Mall was briefly the world’s biggest shopping center. It quickly lost relevance however, and by 2000, Randall Park Mall’s vacancy rate was 92%. Fast forward to 2017 when it was revealed that Amazon was constructing a 855,000 shipping center on the same site. Online triumphs over offline, or “software eats retail” as Netscape founder and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen memorably put it. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Scenario 4: The Future
"Westfield’s Destination 2028’ vision, developed with the help of a panel of experts including a futurologist, fashion technology innovator, retail specialist and experimental physiologists.
As wellness becomes a top priority among consumers, the shopping centre of the future will include a ‘betterment zone’ where visitors can reflect in a mindfulness workshop, and tranquil green space both indoors and out. Meanwhile, allotments and farms will give visitors the chance to pick their own produce for their meal, while a network of waterways will offer not only an alternative route around the centre but access to watersports – one of the many recreational activities that will be available for visitors," writes Fashion Network.
Scenario 5: Mixed Use
Decision makers in RI and Brookfield need to begin to plan the future of the Providence Place Mall. The indicators are clear — the mall is dying. It is less of a hub. The future could be determined here in Rhode Island. Retain retail of the first floor, build a Providence Campus for the University of Rhode Island on the second floor, transform the third floor to residential or dormitories, and leverage the movie theaters for event space and auditoriums.
Or, make the first floor a sport arena or a …
Regardless, Rhode Island must begin to show some vision before reality determines the future unilaterally.
