Image courtesy of Raysonho / Public Domain

Friday reports by Reuters said that Payless was unsuccessful in finding a buyer for the company, prompting the Topeka, Kansas-based company to prepare for liquidation.

The discount shoe retailer is the latest in a series of companies to suffer a similar fate, including Charlotte Russe, Gymboree, Sears and Toys R’ Us, which have all left holes in malls and shopping centers and along commercial corridors.

Payless will shut down roughly 2,300 stores nationwide and get rid of its online platform. With dozens of store locations statewide, Connecticut will see even more vacancies brought on by an onslaught of retail chains calling it quits over the past year.

Industry observers say that the shifting consumer trends to online shopping aren’t solely to blame for chain retailers faltering.

Failure to adapt to the shifting retail industry has also played a role, according to Professor Jose Mendoza of Sacred Heart University. Stores like Claire’s and Payless are suffering from big box stores closing, he said.

“When you have the anchors like Macy’s and Sears closing, then the foot traffic in the shopping malls gets reduced and these stores get effected,” Mendoza said. “It’s collateral damage from the big stores closing.”

Many of the companies also failed to leverage their online presence properly, he said. Most of the retailers have websites, but the majority of their business had been from foot traffic in shopping malls.

Certain shopping malls in southwestern Connecticut have also felt the sting of brand loss because they are left with vacant storefronts.

The fall of Sears last year dealt the Connecticut Post Mall in Milford its second major loss of a major retailer in the past couple years, behind JCPenney’s departure. The latter was, fortunately, replaced by Boscov’s, but finding a retailer of that size to step in is rare, experts say.

The Stamford Town Center has had five retailers that have either left or will leave in coming months, leaving vacancies. Mall officials and retail experts did not appear as concerned as some economic forecasters would expect.