Payless ShoeSource joins the line of retail chains soon to close down in the United States.

The Kansas-based company has announced it will close its 2,100 stores across the nation and Puerto Rico, including both Santa Clarita Valley stores, located in Canyon Country and Stevenson Ranch.

The company said in an email statement, “We expect all stores to remain open until at least the end of March and the majority will remain open until May. This process does not affect the company’s franchise operations or its Latin American stores, which remain open for business as usual.”

An employee at the Stevenson Ranch location said the SCV stores would close by the end of March, with liquidation sales already happening.

Payless.com appeared to no longer accept online orders by Monday, but other features such as the store locator still worked.

The discount shoe store may file for bankruptcy later this month, according to initial reports by Reuters. Payless first filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2017 and closed an estimated 400 stores as a way to reorganize and save money on accumulated debt.

Payless is the latest in retail companies to go out of business, following recent announcements by Charlotte Russe and Gymboree, which also have locations in the SCV.

Coresight Research described this activity as “no light at the end of the tunnel,” in its recent “U.S. Store Closures 2019 Outlook” report. Data released Wednesday showed that the number of store closure announcements so far this year was up 23 percent when compared to this time in 2018. This figure could go up as several other companies are currently in the bankruptcy process and “more on the horizon.”