J.C. PENNEY RELEASES LIST OF 138 STORE CLOSURES
National retailer J.C. Penney has announced the list of 138 stores it will close this year as part of a plan to optimize its national retail operations as part of the company’s successful return to profitability. Liquidation of the closing stores, which are scattered over more than 40 states, will begin around April 17. Approximately 5,000 employees will be affected by the closures.
The company’s strategic decisions also include the closing of one supply chain facility in Lakeland, Florida and relocating one supply chain facility in Buena Park, California. These moves are designed to help align the company’s brick-and-mortar presence with its omni-channel network, thereby redirecting capital resources to invest in locations and initiatives that offer the greatest revenue potential.
Among the many prominent stores affected are those in the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack, NY; the Boulevard in Las Vegas, Nevada; the King of Prussia Mall in Philadelphia; and the Citadel Mall in Charleston, South Carolina.
In announcing the closures last month, Marvin R. Ellison, the company’s chairman and CEO, stated: “In 2016, we achieved our $1 billion EBITDA target and delivered a net profit for the first time since 2010; however, we believe we must take aggressive action to better align our retail operations for sustainable growth. During the year, it became evident the stores that could fully execute the company’s growth initiatives of beauty, home refresh and special sizes generated significantly higher sales, and a more vibrant in-store shopping environment, We believe the relevance of our brick and mortar portfolio will be driven by the implementation of these initiatives consistently to a larger percent of our stores. Therefore, our decision to close stores will allow us to raise the overall brand standard of the company and allocate capital more efficiently.”
For a complete list of store closures, click http://www.jcpnewsroom.com/news-releases/2017/assets/0317_list_of_store_closures.pdf
