Dateline May 24, 2001 Posted @ 8:56 PM

Front of Payless Store is Covered with Newspaper

Without fanfare the Colleyville Payless Cashway closed its doors this week. Customers were greeted with a note on the door announcing the departure of Payless from Colleyville.

Payless, in years past, was the one of the biggest retail sales tax revenue generators for the City of Colleyville.  The 1998 Five Year Business Plan referred to Payless as a "major" tax producer for the city and cautioned the city should move forward with aggressive commercial tax base recruitment because "Payless is bracketed by a new Home Depot in Southlake and Lowe's in Hurst.
See Reference

Former Mayor Ed Baker, said Payless used to be the "cash" cow for the city tax coffers and the loss of Payless is a sad day for long time residents.

A ghostly look inside the closed Payless Cashways

In a related matter, LNO requested, under the Open Records Act, a copy of sales tax paid and the ranking of Payless amongst Colleyville business.  A spokesman on behalf of Terry Leake, with the City of Colleyville, informed LNO that the city would not provide this information.  According to the spokesperson, Ms. Leake deemed the information "private" and could be used in some "anti-competitive" manner.

LNO spoke with Manny Reese of the Texas Attorney General's office.  Mr. Reese informed LNO that the city must a.) provide the information or explain they don't have the information or b.) provide an attorney's opinion why the city is exempt from the Open Records Act pertaining to the request, the latter within 10 days of the request.

LNO has served the city with further notice of its intent to obtain the information. Click Here to see Letter to City Manager. LNO has included a copy of the letter to Mayor Arp and all Council Members via electronic delivery.

LNO contacted Payless at the telephone number on the door and was redirected to a Payless spokesperson.  The spokesperson said that Payless had recently changed their policy and would not comment on the store closing, except to confirm that the Colleyville location is closed.

LNO has sent e-mails to the Mayor and Council asking for comments on the Payless closing. Providing the opportunity for response to specific, questions without editing, is unique to the LNO news coverage commitment.

Although this method is not used exclusively on all news stories, this process, for example, alleviates concerns that an elected official is quoted out of context or misquoted.  Of course, this does require the elected official to put comments in writing and provides a historical account for citizens.

To date the Mayor of Colleyville nor any council member has chosen to respond and take advantage of this direct opportunity to communicate with their constituents.

In the event of responses, LNO will include their comments in a follow up article.  See Questions

With the closing of Payless, the Colleyville corner of the busy Hwy 26 and Cheek Sparger will be without any commercial presence.

The Colleyville corner of Cheek Sparger and Hwy 26 appears destined to be vacant.  This abandoned service station is on the North East corner and Payless on the South East corner.