The Payless "Fashion Lab"

In high school and college, I loved Payless. One of my absolutely favorite pairs of shoes ever was a pair of bronze-brown "snakeskin" platform heels that I got for $7 on clearance at Payless! Every once in a while, I still go into Payless, and am saddened to find that most of their shoes are now just copies of Nine West or Steve Madden shoes. They seem to be stuck in a rut. So, I am happy to hear that they are trying to revamp their image and shoes, starting by hiring designer Laura Poretzky.

CEO Matt Rubel expressed a desire to "democratize fashion" and Payless is doing so by opening six stores, (temporarily named "Fashion Lab") with a better, trendy atmosphere. In order to attract the trend-driven 20-30 year old, the new look of the stores will include better lighting, curving side-walls and replacing the tall wire racks with lower counter tops to give the store a more "expensive" feel . The new stores will also offer accessories, such as handbags and watches. Six stores will open this summer and 20 to 30 stores are planned to be open by 2007. [Source] [Pictures of the shoes]

The shoes will range from $25-$45, and will also be available online.