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Looks like Traffic Shoes stepped into 2016 on the wrong foot. The Miami-based shoe company, known best for its low priced shoes, has filed for bankruptcy. According to the South Florida Business Journal, its owner has plans to shutter stores and restructure operational costs.
The brand began in Miami in 1989 with one store and now operates 83 stores across malls in nine states and Puerto Rico. Although it went through a nice site redesign not too long ago, it seems the retailer can't keep up with a booming online industry and tech-savvy teens, and cites this as the reason it is filing for bankruptcy. In addition, it owes 608 employees about $300,000 in wages, and $287,112 in sales taxes. Yikes.
While the situation is looking bleak, we won't have to remove Traffic from our list of Miami's best shoe stores just yet.
"The purpose of ... the bankruptcy is to enable the debtors to restructure occupancy and operational costs and to shed certain stores in order to continue to offer the best value to its customers," the bankruptcy filing reads, which means that your local Traffic might shutter, however there's bound to be another one in your city where you can still find its outrageous "buy one, get one for $1 deal."