Payless to set up 10 stores, three already open
Published:Friday | February 18, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Low-cost American footwear chain Payless ShoeSource plans to roll out 10 stores across Jamaica, creating between 70 to 100 jobs.
Steve Gish, executive vice-president of Payless ShoeSource, while declining to disclose the size of the investment in Jamaica, said the built-out would happen during this year.
Already, the company has opened three stores: two in Kingston - Boulevard Shopping Centre and at the Springs Plaza; and one in Montego Bay.
"At a time when the economy in US has been at a lulled, we look for opportunities in growth markets and Jamaica is just such a terrific growth market," he said, while addressing the official opening of the Boulevard Shopping Centre store in Kingston on Thursday.
Gish was, however, confident that the company would be able to open more than the initial 10.
"We have been opened in here, in this particular store, for a couple of weeks and our sales have exceeded expectations. We are very optimistic that we will be able not to open the 10 we originally planned, but perhaps more," he said.
Gish said the company is looking to build out in towns such as Mandeville, May Pen and Ocho Rios.
Addressing concerns raised by some shoppers last week that the prices were not on par with that of Payless' US stores, Gish said the differential was linked to geography.
"The prices reflect the additional cost of doing business, duties, just transit to move the product to Jamaica. We reflect that in our prices, but it is really the same as the US pricing, with a little higher pricing due to the cost of doing business," he said.
The footwear company executive, back in salesman mode, said the store stands for bringing great style and value to the customer.
He said the plan was to open five stores in the spring, or the second quarter, and the other five in the fall, the fourth quarter, and would be hiring ahead of opening, allowing time for training to deliver service the Payless way.
"Our service model is called the SMILE, which is an acronym for a number of key things but mainly we want our associates to provide friendly helpful service, we want them to greet every customer, we want them to offer assistance and measure kids' feet, which grow so fast," he said.
Gish said its popular 'buy one get half price' would also be implemented sometime throughout the year.
Gish also handed out J$225,000 in charitable donation: the Jamaica Cancer Society got J$100,000 to finance purchase of a digital mammogram machine; $75,000 was presented to the Maxfield Park Children Home; and another J$50,00 to the Pembroke Hall High School.
"Everything we do is from a customer standpoint. Our primary customer is women, and so we have longed partner with breast-cancer awareness charities because of the connection with women; and our number two customer after women is children," he said, where gift cards are given to under-privileged children.
Michael Stern, state minister in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, welcomed Payless to Jamaica as investor and job creator.
"We are now attracting top companies to Jamaica and that is why you see the improvement going on downtown, because people are not going to invest if they know that they won't attract the kind of people inside of those places," said Stern.
He said there are several international investors thinking of investing in Jamaica, but when pressed on who they were, said it was too early to identify them, though he named the targeted sector as information and communications technology.
"We created 22,000 jobs in the last quarter and we lost 80,000 jobs during the recession downturn. So we are working to recover that 80,000 and move ahead," the junior minister said.