June 5, 2020
J.C. Penney Announces Closures
154 stores set to close this summer
Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney has announced its first wave of store closures set to begin June 12.
According to Bill Read, executive vice president of Retail Specialists, our sister company, J.C. Penney has asked its landlords for rent forbearance and percentage rent as it navigates thru the Chapter 11 process.
“While generally Chapter 11 can help a company reduce its fleet of stores to a more sustainable level, J.C. Penney has some major hurtles to overcome before its Chapter 11 plan is approved by lenders,” stated Read.
While no one wants to see stores close, the department store sector has been declining for years and hopefully a revamped and smaller J.C. Penney can find a place in the retail world.
The original ‘Go Forward’ plan is a store fleet of 604 stores, a reduction of more than 200 stores. The plan will help reduce distribution cost, labor and management redundancies, and allow them to only operate their most profitable stores.
Bill read, retail specialists
