By The Wall Street Journal
Collective Brands Inc. is expected to announce Tuesday that it is expanding its Payless ShoeSource retail chain into Russia with franchise partner M.H. Alshaya.
The Topeka, Kan., footwear company, known for its affordable line of kids shoes and adult shoes by top fashion designers, plans to open stores beginning in 2010 in Russia. The agreement calls for between 95 and 150 stores to be built within five years. Alshaya will own and operate the stores, but Collective Brands has the option to buy into them.
At the end of the first quarter, the company, which also owns the Stride-Rite chain, operated more than 4,500 stores in more than a dozen countries, including Canada and nations throughout Central America, the Caribbean, South America and the Middle East. The retailer's sales have fallen in the recession despite its discount prices.
The company first began franchising its stores this year in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Emerging markets such as Russia and the Middle East have two common traits -- income growth and real [gross domestic product] growth.
M.H. Alshaya Co. is the retail business of the Alshaya Group, which has interests in hotels, real estate and investments that was founded in Kuwait in 1890.
