Payless? More like PayMORE, as the discount shoe store turns the tables on people who just want to shop by name only.

Payless commandeered a former Arani store in Santa Monica, California, and filled it with its normal slate of shoes. They normally cost between $20 and $40 at common Payless locations. But at this location, renamed Palessi, the standard shoes came with a designer price of between $200 and $600 a pair, USA Today reported.

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In only a few hours, the company sold about $3,000 worth of shoes.

The employees eventually did tell shoppers that the products were Payless shoes, but not before some customers described the footwear as "elegant and sophisticated." Those  shoppers, who USA Today said were real people and not actors, apparently were surprised at the revelation.

Payless didn't keep the marked up money and refunded the purchases to the shoppers, but the videos that were shot during operation will be used as commercials and on YouTube. The shoppers also get to keep the shoes, Fortune reported.

An ad company worked with Payless on the ruse, USA Today reported.

Doug Cameron, who worked on the campaign for DCX Growth Accelerator, said Payless “wanted to push the social experiment genre to new extremes, while simultaneously using it to make a cultural statement.”

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8/26/17 - Atlanta, GA - Georgia leaders, including Gov. Nathan Deal, Sandra Deal, members of the King family, and Rep. Calvin Smyre,  were on hand for unveiling of the first statue of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday at the statehouse grounds, more than three years after Gov. Nathan Deal first announced the project.  During the hour-long ceremony leading to the unveiling of the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. at the state Capitol on Monday, many speakers, including Gov. Nathan Deal, spoke of King's biography. The statue was unveiled on the anniversary of King's famed "I Have Dream" speech. BOB ANDRES  /BANDRES@AJC.COM

Credit: Bob Andres