Australia’s Payless fails to find a buyer, will close by February

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 14, 2016

Administrators have been unable to find a buyer for Australian retail chain Payless Shoes so all 132 branches will close with around 730 jobs to go. The closures will happen by February.

Administrator Ferrier Hodgson said staff will be paid in full and added that some jobs could be saved if the business is broken up and sold in parts.

Administrator Jim Sarantinos said that a number of expressions of interest were received from various parties, but “there were no acceptable offers for the business as a whole.”

The company has operated in Australian since 1980 and was saved in 2013 after falling into administration when it was bought by US-based Payless ShoeSource. The American parent firm is reported to be the chain’s biggest creditor after the Australian business continued to make losses in recent years.

Some jobs have already been lost from one of Australia’s largest footwear retailers with the company having employed 870 people when it went in administration last month. Payless had turnover at the time of around A$750m a year.