founded 1956 ; 60 years ago 1956 founders dante obi shaol pozez headquarters topeka kansas number of locations 4 496 2012 1 key people paul w. jones ceo 2 products shoes sandals flip flops water shoes socks accessories revenue sales 2.8 billion usd fy 2013 2 net income 97.30 million fy 2010 number of employees 25 000 2013 2 website payless shoesource payless shoesource is an american discount footwear retailer headquartered in topeka kansas in 1956 by cousins louis and shaol pozez that is a privately held company owned by blum capital and golden gate capital . in 1961 it became a public company as the volume shoe corporation which merged with the may department stores company in 1979 . in the 1980s payless was widely known in the u.s. for its pro wings line of discount sneakers which often had velcro straps instead of laces . in 1996 payless shoesource became an independent publicly held company . in 2004 payless shoesource announced it would exit the parade chain and would close 100 payless shoe outlets . on august 17 2007 the company acquired the stride rite corporation and changed its name to collective brands inc. 3 4 the company had a total revenue for 2011 of us 3 400 000 000 . 5 it was announced on may 1 2012 that the company would be purchased by wolverine world wide blum capital and golden gate capital for us 1 320 000 000 . 5 6 contents 1 history 1.1 acquisitions 1.2 key dates 1.3 expansion 1.4 st. lucia 1.5 australia 1.6 trinidad and tobago 1.7 barbados 1.8 jamaica 1.9 philippines 1.10 indonesia singapore and malaysia 1.11 thailand 1.12 united arab emirates 2 references 3 external links history edit former payless shoesource logo used until 2006 . it is still seen in many locations . acquisitions edit circa 1962 63 volume shoe company purchased the original hill brothers shoe company based in kansas city missouri and converted approximately all 25 of their stores to the payless name . in 1971 volume shoe obtained the second hill brothers shoe store chain that was started in st. louis mo in 1956 by al melnick and sol nathanson with the assistance and aid of the original hill brothers in kansas city . the st. louis version of hill brothers self service shoe store went from 3 to 103 stores in the midwest and south between 1956 and 1971 . volume shoe originally operated the 103 stores under the hill brothers self service name . payless shoesource store briarwood mall ann arbor michigan starting in 1972 volume shoe began to consolidate stores in proximity and convert others to the payless brand . the st. louis operation of hill brothers self service stores were known for their bare bones minimalism and the slogan two for five man alive that is women and children s shoes were two pair for five dollars . 7 payless bought picway shoes from the kobacker department store chain in 1994 . 8 key dates edit 1956 pay less national is founded in topeka kansas by two cousins louis and shaol pozez to open self service stores selling budget footwear . 1962 the company goes public as volume distributors . . 1967 the company is renamed volume shoe corporation ; an accelerated expansion program is launched . 1978 the payless shoesource name is adopted for the bulk of the company s retail outlets . 1979 volume shoe is acquired by the may department stores company . 1991 the company name is changed to payless shoesource inc. 1996 may spins payless off to shareholders making it once again an independent publicly traded firm . 1997 the mid priced shoe chain parade of shoes is acquired from j. baker inc. ; the first canadian payless stores open . 1999 the firm launches e commerce at payless.com . 2000 payless enters into a joint venture to expand into the central american region . 2004 as part of a major restructuring payless announces that it will close down the parade chain and close hundreds of payless shoesource outlets . 9 2012 collective brands inc. which owns footwear brands such as sperry top sider and keds as well as the retailer payless shoesource will be split in two by multiple buyers wolverine worldwide blum capital and golden gate capital in a purchase valued at 2 billion including debt . 10 11 12 expansion edit interior of a payless shoesource in groveton virginia payless shoesource in fairview mall payless shoesource in promenade on june 27 2006 payless announced that it was launching a new logo created to represent a more stylish upscale and contemporary company . this is the first rollout of stores in 2012 and beyond . st. lucia edit in 2014 payless opened its first store in st. lucia at the baywalk mall in gros islet . this is one of two payless store located on the island of st. lucia . australia edit in 2013 payless shoessource bought payless shoes australia s full 150 stores which has operated since 1980 out of administration . previously these two companies did not have any affiliation . 13 trinidad and tobago edit payless shoesource has a total of 20 stores across trinidad and tobago . barbados edit in 2012 payless expanded into the barbados market by opening the first ten employee store at haggatt hall st. michael . the group s ceo announced four more are also planned to open and this will increase its local operations to 50 employees . jamaica edit payless shoesource opened in jamaica in january 2011 and today has a total of 12 stores on the island . payless in santo domingo dominican republic . philippines edit as of june 2015 payless has 27 stores in the philippines . 11 of them are located in the metro manila area and 16 are located in the provinces . 14 15 indonesia singapore and malaysia edit in april 2011 payless launched its first store in jakarta indonesia followed by one store in kuala lumpur and singapore within the same year and under the same management . payless shoesource operates 19 stores throughout indonesia currently . thailand edit central marketing group cmg a business unit of the central group has signed a franchise agreement with kansas based payless shoesource that will see outlets next year in bangkok chonburi making thailand its 15th franchise country . it will also adopt payless s new hot zone format and purchase products directly from the seasonal assortments with slight adjustments for local needs . 16 united arab emirates edit it belongs to alshaya group in the united arab emirates uae . it has opened different branches in dubai mall mirdif city center and sahara center . references edit payless inc nyse pss quotes & news google finance . retrieved 9 june 2016 . a b c payless holdings on the forbes america s largest private companies list . retrieved 9 june 2016 . http findarticles.com p articles mi m4prn is 2007 august 17 ai n19452625 . missing or empty title help dead link payless shoesource announces close of stride rite acquisition and holding company name change to collective brands inc. payless . retrieved 9 june 2016 . a b hawley brenna may 1 2012 payless shoesource owner agrees to 2b sale kansas city business journal bizjournals.com retrieved may 27 2012 http xfinity.comcast.net articles finance 20120501 us.collective.brands.acquisition . retrieved 9 june 2016 . external link in title help oltrogge sarah c. images of america east village . arcadia publishing sc february 2010 . page 43 . picway shoe stores to go out of business after takeover by payless . originated from akron beacon journal ohio . 29 august 1994 . retrieved 9 june 2016 . history of payless shoesource inc. fundinguniverse . retrieved 9 june 2016 . san francisco s golden gate capital blum capital slip into payless shoesource san francisco business times . retrieved 9 june 2016 . payless and keds to be split in 1.32 billion buyout . 1 may 2012 . retrieved 9 june 2016 via reuters . rusli evelyn m. investor group carves up collective brands . retrieved 9 june 2016 . payless buys payless shoes from administration . 15 march 2013 . retrieved 9 june 2016 . 404 . page not found bloomberg check url value help . retrieved 9 june 2016 . stores specialists inc. ssi . retrieved 9 june 2016 . http www.bangkokpost.com business retail 269054 cmg walks off with payless franchise cmg walks off with payless franchise published 3 12 2011 external links edit collective brands corporate site payless annual report 2006 payless shoesource http www.fundinguniverse.com company histories payless shoesource inc history http www.wikinvest.com stock collective brands inc. pss http www.thedubaimall.com en shop footwear payless.aspx retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title payless shoesource & oldid 743884473 categories shoe companies of the united statesretail companies of the united statescompanies based in topeka kansasretail companies established in 19561956 establishments in kansascompanies listed on the new york stock exchangehidden categories pages with citations lacking titlespages with citations having bare urlsall articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from june 2012cs1 errors external linkspages with url errorspages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages espa ol edit links this page was last modified on 11 october 2016 at 20 39 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view