Payless pumps US$300,000 in super store

Payless Shoe Source (Payless) TT spent approximately US$300,000 to open its first super store at Trincity Mall, Trincity.

Payless’ VP, Latin America and Caribbean, Denise Bernard disclosed the figure during an interview following the store’s formal opening on Thursday. This is the 22nd Payless store in TT and the first super store in the English-speaking Caribbean.

There are five other super stores in the region. One each in Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Honduras.

Bernard said the Trinidad super store – located on the second floor, a short walk away from the cinema complex – “is easily the largest shoe store in TT. It is our hope that our customers will enjoy all that it has to offer.”

In April, Finance Minister Colm Imbert told Newsday TT may be experiencing an economic recovery after several years of negative growth.

Commenting on the economy in general during his remarks, Payless TT country manager Jerus Mohammed said, “TT is a large, very important and sustainable market for Payless and I have no doubt this is the reason why we were chosen as the largest destination for a Super Store.

“Despite all that has been said about our economy, we continue to work even harder to provide our customers with affordable, reputable brands...Our mission has always been to be the go to, get more, pay less, shoe store and we do everything within our power to live up to that. We pay attention to what our customers’ needs are and try our best to meet them.”

Asked by Newsday for her perspective on the company’s performance over the past 18 months, Bernard said, “When we came in, in 2001, we thought – based on the population – TT may be a ten-store market and we’ll leave it at that.

“Today, we’re at 22 stores and we’re actually always looking for new opportunities. In the past year, we’ve opened in Pt Fortin and Rio Claro, and we continue to search for opportunities to grow our business. Every single (Payless) store in TT is extremely profitable and it’s good for our business,” Bernard said.

A Payless Super Store is twice the size of a standard store. The one in Trinidad is 4,682 square feet in size and opened with 25,000 pairs of shoes.

To celebrate the opening of the first super store in the English-speaking Caribbean, Payless will give out 100 gift vouchers – valued at $180 each – to the first 100 customers who visit the store this Saturday.