Woman buys out Payless shoe store in generous show of altruism
A woman buys out a Payless shoe store, but it's not to build out her own wardrobe. (YouTube/ABC11)
When Kansas resident Addy Tritt strolled into her local Payless ShoeSource in the small town of Hays on a rainy, cloudy day, it certainly wasn’t her intention to purchase every single pair of shoes in the store.
But that’s exactly what she did.
“It just came to me. Like, 'oh my gosh, I have this idea!,’” the 25-year-old recent graduate of Fort Hays State University said in an interview with Pittsburgh-based KDKA NewsRadio 1020. “That’s how it happened.”
The Topeka, Kansas-headquartered Payless, which is currently in liquidation after having filed for bankruptcy in February, is already selling much of what’s left of their items for quite cheap as the stores prepare to close after 63 years in business.
“The shoes were their original prices, and then they went down to $10 a pair, $9 and they went all the way down to $1,” Tritt told KDKA.
Even at some of those prices, Tritt, who had just graduated from her master’s program, realized she couldn’t afford to spare an extra $200 on shoes. So she asked the sales associate for help contacting the district or corporate manager.
After a lot of negotiating, Tritt was definitely able to pay less. She purchased all remaining 204 pairs of shoes for a steal – $100.
As the sales associate handled Tritt’s huge shoe haul, she tried to figure out what she was going to do with the vast assortment of adult and children’s shoes.
She had a bit of time to ponder, as Tritt told KDKA that the associate had to ring up each pair of shoes one by one and apply the discounts individually.
“I thought about doing homeless shelters or church organizations, and I finally realized, ‘oh my goodness, Nebraska!,’” she said.
A “bomb cyclone” swept through the midwestern United States last month, causing rivers to overflow at historic levels. The disastrous flooding, which forced hundreds to flee their homes, resulted in more than $1 billion in damage, according to NPR, and at least three deaths.
“Any shoe is better than a wet shoe,” Tritt said. “So I thought, ‘I’ll just send them up to Nebraska.’”
Addy Tritt's shoe donations joined these items to be hauled to Nebraska to aid those impacted by recent devastating flooding. (Photo/Erin Josefiak)
Tritt didn’t have the means to transport more than 200 shoes on her own, especially as she prepares to relocate to Oklahoma.
She turned to a community Facebook group for buying, selling and trading. Tritt posted a comment seeking help for hauling the shoes out of state, and received an overwhelming response.
“Hundreds of people wanted to volunteer to take these shoes up,” Tritt said. She was at first concerned, because she wanted to ensure that the shoes weren’t resold and reached their intended destination.
Tritt eventually entrusted one woman who reached out after her call for help to handle nearly half of the shoes, according to CNN.
The other 133 pairs went to Tritt’s alma mater, Fort Hays State University, where the Sigma Alpha agricultural sorority fortunately had an upcoming trip planned to deliver supplies to farmers and ranchers in need after the flooding.
“I’m just so grateful and blessed that [my college’s] agriculture department had a big truck that was donated to them to help them take other supplies, as well, so the shoes were the last thing to go on that truck,” Tritt told KDKA.
Along with Tritt’s shoes, Sigma Alpha’s flood relief committee hauled cases of water, shovels, spools of wire, bags of feed and other essential items for farmers to Nebraska, Fort Hays State student Baley Doggett told AccuWeather.
“When I found out how many shoes she had for us, I was shocked at the number,” Doggett said. The shoes and other items were loaded up and headed to Nebraska on April 1.
With this truck, Sigma Alpha sent 113 of Addy Tritt's shoes along with many other items to aid Nebraska flood victims. (Photo/Erin Josefiak)
“I think that getting donations and sending them to victims was very important. We are a professional agricultural sorority, so we really wanted to do our part to help other people involved in agriculture that were in need of it,” Doggett told AccuWeather. “I know that our donations as a whole were small, but the impact it made on individual lives had to be huge, and I’m happy that I got to be part of it.”
Tritt is no stranger to giving back. The dedicated, lifelong volunteer has said while this donation for her is significant, she’s also made other meaningful contributions to her community in the past – usually, anonymously or with a fake name. “It’s just something that I’ve always done, and it’s something I’m going to do for the rest of my life,” she said.
In addition to the donations to those impacted by Nebraska flooding, she’s participated in donation drives for animal shelters as well as drives for food, baby clothes and backpacks.
“I’m Catholic, so I believe that God has a plan and a path for everybody, and I feel like part of my path is to help people,” Tritt said. “I don’t know how to describe it. It feels like your heart is dancing when you’re able to help somebody.”
The national media attention isn’t what Tritt wanted nor expected, but she says she hopes it will inspire others to play a more active role within their communities by donating to good causes.
“If I can help animals, babies, children or anybody who can’t reach something that they’re trying to get, or don’t have the means to get, then I’m going to definitely do what I can to make sure it happens,” she said.
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