Payless ShoeSource Canada Inc. has announced that it will soon file for creditor protection in Canada and close all 2,500 of its North American stores this spring. The company’s chief restructuring officer Stephen Marotta says in a release that the closures are happening because a prior reorganization left the company “ill-equipped” for today’s retail environment with too much remaining debt and too large a store footprint.

The company stated “As part of the process, we have made the difficult decision to close our stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada, and we have wound down our e-commerce site. Stores across North America remain open at this time, and we are conducting liquidation sales that will continue until at least the end of March, with most continuing through the end of May. We have sought authorization from both Courts to continue to honor customer gift cards and store credit until March 11, 2019, and to continue to allow returns and exchanges of applicable non-final sale purchases made prior to February 17, 2019, until March 1, 2019. We have discontinued our Rewards program and terminated all outstanding merchandise coupons in North America, effective immediately.”

Payless was founded in Topeka, Kansas in 1956 and has been selling quality, on trend footwear and accessories at affordable prices for over six decades.