Jeff Platsky

jplatsky@gannett.com | @JeffPlatsky

Two more retailers with a presence in the Southern Tier are about to slim down.

Payless ShoeSource and Gamestop have said declining sales are forcing them to re-evaluate existing stores, with the expectation that a wave of closings will follow.

Neither have revealed which stores are being considered for closure. An announcement by both is expected in the near future.

Discount shoe retailer Payless has three stores in Binghamton area, one at Consumer Square in Big Flats, and one in Cortland.

Gamestop has a store at the Arnot Mall in Big Flats, two in the Oakdale Mall in Johnson City, one on the Vestal Parkway and another at South Meadow Square in Ithaca.

On Friday, Gamestop, the nation's largest video game retailer, said it will close 150 of 7,500 stores nationwide as video game sales soften.

Bloomberg News reported Payless expects to file for bankruptcy reorganization this week and will close 500 stores nationwide.

Both retailers are suffering from the same afflictions that are widespread in the business: aggressive competition from online retailers.

J.C. Penney has announced that it will close outlets, though stores at the Arnot Mall and Oakdale Mall were unaffected by the decision.

Sears, too, is on the ropes, suffering from a sales decline as it tries to adjust its business model to retailing's new realities.On Sunday, Macy's shuttered its 140,000-square-foot outlet in the Oakdale Mall.

As Sears falters, shadow darkens over American malls

GameStop faces increased competition from retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart while more players purchase games digitally — whether on traditional gaming consoles, or on their smartphones or tablets.

The video game and consumer electronics retailer's woes are the latest example of a brick-and-mortar retailer impacted by consumers' rush to purchase products online. J.C. Penney and Sears Holding have announced plans to shutter several locations.

GameStop's struggles were illustrated by a more-than 13 percent drop in global sales, to $3.05 billion, from a year ago. GameStop blamed weak sales of certain blockbuster video games released during the critical holiday season, and "aggressive console promotions" by other retailers.

"We encountered stiff headwinds as we completed the third year of the console cycle," GameStop CEO Paul Raines said.

Larry Perkins, CEO and founder of SierraConstellation Partners, said the gaming market follows the path of other specialty retailers in moving toward more diversified offerings.

"Not only are they getting hammered by the online retailers and big box — that have an inherent cost advantage through no retail real estate footprint or a much larger footprint that they can leverage with other products — but the movement to mobile-based games is creeping up mightily," Perkins said.

Founded in Topeka in 1956, Payless offered a new retailing experience, enabling customers to self-select footwear with affordable prices. The company says it now is the largest specialty family footwear retailer in the Western Hemisphere, with more than 4,000 locations in 30 countries and nearly 22,000 employees.

The company is owned by Golden Gate Capital and Blum Capital Partners, San Francisco-based private equity firms that took over the retailer in 2012 as part of the $2 billion breakup of Collective Brands. The transaction included the assumption of Collective Brands debt.

Payless last year tried to boost profits with a new master plan based on opening more of the company's Super Stores — larger locations with deeper stocks of footwear brands and styles, as well as an added focus on shopping experience — according to a Footwear News report. That plan called for closing 350 to 500 smaller stores within three years, the report said.

Company officials also said Payless was undertaking aggressive moves to deal with consumer shifts to e-commerce.

Follow Jeff Platsky on Twitter @JeffPlatsky

USA Today contributed to this story