Join the 17th Annual GlobeSt Net Lease Conference (formerly a RealShare event) on April 3 & 4 in NYC alongside the industry's most influential and knowledgeable real estate executives from the net lease sector. Click here to register and view the agenda.

Throughout time we have seen the rise and fall of many well-known retailers, companies so successful that no one thought they could fail. Unable to keep up with changes in the market, they lost their competitive edge in the world of retail. Some names that come to mind are Woolworth's, Toys 'R' Us, Radio Shack, and most recently Payless ShoeSource.

Recently the shoe selling giant has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which involves the shuttering of all 2,500 United States retail locations as well as its online business. International locations, mainly in Latin America, will continue to operate as usual. These recent developments seemingly will not come as a surprise to someone to keeping a watchful eye on the market as evidenced by other companies filing bankruptcies in recent years.

Recommended For You

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.

Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Jonathan Hipp

Jonathan Hipp began his career in real estate over 25 years ago. In his early years as a broker, he ventured into the net lease industry and quickly began leading the US net lease market, closing over $3 billion in transactions. In 2005, Jon founded Calkain Companies, a company focused solely on net lease investment services. As President and CEO, he has been instrumental in building the firm into one of the leading Net Lease real estate companies, transacting over $12 billion of net lease deal volume over the past 13 years. He has expanded Calkain’s services to include brokerage, advisory, asset management, capital markets, and industry research. He has become a well-known resource, panelist, and speaker at various Net Lease and Industry conferences and is a regular contributor to GlobeSt.com on real estate trends. In June 2015, Jon’s passion for the real estate business was again recognized as he was nominated for the Top Real Estate Player in the DC area by SmartCEO magazine.