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PSS..my cash engine..+8%

DJ Payless May Same-Store Sales Up 4.1%; Spring Items Strong

TOPEKA, Kan. (Dow Jones)--Payless ShoeSource Inc.´s (PSS) May same-store sales rose 4.1%, topping analysts´ mean estimate for 0.5% growth, amid strength in spring merchandise.

The discount-shoe retailer´s total sales for the four weeks ended May 28 increased 2.4% to $240.2 million from $234.5 million.

"Customers have continued to react positively to the company´s spring merchandise, to-date, as indicated by the solid performance in May," the company said in a press release Thursday.

For the fiscal year to date, Payless´ same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, rose 3.1%. Total sales rose 0.9% to $935.4 million from $926.9 million.

Payless said it is "committed" to its target of low single-digit same-store sales growth on a consistent basis.

Last week, Payless announced that Chairman and Chief Executive Stephen Douglass plans to leave the company in July by mutual agreement with the board. He will be replaced as chief executive by Matthew Rubel, currently chairman and chief executive of Nike Inc.´s (NKE) Cole Haan division.

-Kara Wetzel; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5400; [e-mail]