Payless Shoe Source is a discount footwear retailer that was founded in 1956 in Topeka, Kansas. Shaol Pozez and his cousin Louis Pozez founded and operated Payless Shoes. In 1961, it became a public company as the Volume Shoe Corporation. In 1979, Volume Shoe merged with the May Department Stores Company. In the 1980s, Payless Shoes was widely known in the U.S. for its Pro WingsCollective Brands, Inc. line of discount sneakers, which often had Velcro straps instead of laces. In 1996, Payless Shoe Source became an independent, publicly held company. On August 17, 2007, the company acquired The Stride Rite Corporation, and changed its name to Collective Brands, Inc.
Today, Payless Shoes is the largest specialty family footwear retailer in the Western Hemisphere. At the end of the first quarter 2006, the company had a total of 4,602 stores. There are stores in all 50 states, as well as in Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and nine Latin American countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Dominican RepublicTrinidad). Payless Shoe Source also operates locations inside Shopko stores.
Payless Shoes carries brands of footwear such as Airwalk, Champion, Spalding, American Eagle (American Eagle is a house brand of Payless Shoes, not to be confused with American Eagle Outfitters) and Dunkman, endorsed by Shaquille O'Neal. They also carry their own brands of footwear, as well as children's products portraying popular cartoon characters. Lastly, they offer accessories such as socks, belts, backpacks and handbags.
