Viva, Zapata

PriceSmart, Inc. (San Diego), an operator of membership-shopping shoe warehouses in Central America and the Caribbean, has entered into a lease agreement with Payless ShoeSource, Inc. (Topeka, Kansas), North America's largest family footwear retailer. The agreement would give PriceSmart the option to open locations adjacent to most of PriceSmart's warehouses. This agreement would lubricate the Central America and Caribbean rollout announced by Payless earlier this year. Also via the agreement, PriceSmart members would receive 10 percent discounts when buying multiple pairs of shoes at those Payless ShoeSource stores in Central American or Caribbean countries where a PriceSmart warehouse has an adjacent location.

PriceSmart has already built-out and leased to Payless 2,700 square feet at its Zapote, Costa Rica, warehouse. The Payless ShoeSource store opened there December 1.

PriceSmart currently operates 17 membership-shopping warehouses in the Central American and Caribbean region: Panama (4), Costa Rica (3), Guatemala (2), Dominican Republic (3), El Salvador (2), Honduras (2) and Trinidad & Tobago (1). PriceSmart also licenses five warehouses in China and one warehouse in Saipan, Micronesia. The total number of PriceSmart membership accounts in the Central American and Caribbean region are more than 430,000 representing approximately 752,000 shoppers.