Shoe store giant Payless is closing all of its locations across Canada and the US.
The American-founded company first filed for bankruptcy protection in the US in 2017.
The company has now started bankruptcy proceedings for its 248 Canadian stores.
In a release, the company says they are ill-equipped to survive in today’s retail environment, with too much debt and too large a store footprint.
“Unfortunately, we emerged from the prior reorganization ill-equipped to survive in today’s retail environment, with too much remaining debt, too large a store footprint and a yet-to-be realized systems and corporate overhead structure consolidation,” reads the release.
Payless has asked courts in both countries to allow them to continue to honour customer gift cards and store credit until March 11.
They have discontinued their rewards program and terminated all outstanding merchandise coupons effective immediately.
The company hopes to have stores remain open for liquidation sales until May.