Stores Closing: Payless Shoes, Performance Bicycle, Things Remembered & Gymboree

It’s never good news, when a store closes. The only bright side are the deals that abound for bargain hunters. It takes some strategy to get the best savings, namely when to buy. As with all close-out sales, the deals get better as the final day approaches, but the selection may not be the best.

As a result, deal seekers have to know when it’s the right time to buy or possibly lose out on big savings. It means you have to check often because you don’t know when the next price drop will happen. Plus, all sales are final, so there’s no chance of returning items and re-buying them at a lower price.

This time, there are three stores closing in the next month or so — Payless Shoe Source, Performance Bicycle, Things Remembered and Gymboree.

The discount schedule is top-secret information. Based on our years of bargain hunting and insight, the price seems to drop every week with the final day usually being when everything is 90% off or more.

(Of course, the business wants to make as much money as possible and, if the public knew the exact schedule of price drops, everyone would just wait for the best discount.)

Most die-hard bargain hunters consider 75% off the time to start buying — that’s the golden savings spot. The trick is to check the percentage off every day — either by calling or stopping by. We will do our best to update the post, but you should be checking, too.

Payless Shoe Source If the shoe fits, buy it! The national shoe store is closing all of its stores. We checked a few stores over the weekend and the shelves were still full. (Unconfirmed, we were told the stores will close March 16.) There will plenty of shoes, socks and accessories. As of now, the discount is 20% to 40% off.

Performance Bicycle – All stores nationwide are closing including those in Glendale (358 S. Colorado Blvd.), Greenwood Village (6570 S. Yosemite), Westminster (7430 W. 88th Ave.), Boulder (2450 Arapahoe) and Fort Collins. Each is peddling lots of great close-out deals. The stores close at the end of February.

There are still lots of bikes, accessories and clothing in stock. If you’re think about pedaling this spring or summer, get there as soon as possible — lots of great deals.We checked out the Glendale store where the discount is 50% to 70% off.

Things Remembered – Unfortunately, this store is soon to be forgotten. (No offense, we just couldn’t resist using the line.) All of the locations in Colorado are closing. The stores close February 25. (Note: The discount does not include the engraving. However, you’re not required to get items engraved there. You can buy the items and get them engraved elsewhere — some places may be less expensive.)

As of now, the discount is 70% to 80%. The location at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center even had a few racks with everything on them just a buck each. (They were already engraved or samples, but you could easily replace the engraved plate or cover it up.)

Gymboree – No playing around here, there are great deals at this close-out sale. All Gymboree locations are closing, including Gymboree Outlets. There is no official closing date. However, we’re guessing it will be at the end of March. As of now, the mark down is 40% off all merchandise and an additional 60% off clearance items.

If you’ve never been to the store, the regular prices are a bit high, so you might want to wait until the discount drops more — probably around 60% off or more. The Colorado Mills location we checked out was basically fully stocked with tons of kids clothes and accessories — a bit more for girls than boys.