JCPenney closing Northgate Mall Seattle store in 2019

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
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marshd1000
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JCPenney closing Northgate Mall Seattle store in 2019

Post by marshd1000 »

JCPenney closing Northgate Mall store in 2019.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/j ... e-in-2019/

We could see this coming with the conversion of the property to mixed use!
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Re: JCPenney closing Northgate Mall Seattle store in 2019

Post by Brian Lutz »

This follows the closure of the Bellevue Square store a few years ago. At the time, KDC bought them out of their lease to get them out (this was during the fallout from the Ron Johnson era) and split up the space to multiple stores, including the ill-fated 365 by Whole Foods store that closed a year after it opened and currently remains vacant. JCPenney does maintain a handful of small stores in the area (Marysville, Silverdale and Sequim) but is probably content to keep its two larger stores at Southcenter and Alderwood and leave it at that.

That said, the current anchor stores at Northgate are in pretty rough shape right now, especially the Macy's store. The Nordstrom store is also very small compared to the Downtown, Bellevue Square and Southcenter stores (the Alderwood store is fairly small as well, but still significantly larger.) My suspicion is that Nordstrom will replace their store at Northgate with a larger one, but that we'll eventually see the Macy's store close as well.
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Re: JCPenney closing Northgate Mall Seattle store in 2019

Post by babs »

Brian Lutz wrote: October 9th, 2018, 9:30 am This follows the closure of the Bellevue Square store a few years ago. At the time, KDC bought them out of their lease to get them out (this was during the fallout from the Ron Johnson era) and split up the space to multiple stores, including the ill-fated 365 by Whole Foods store that closed a year after it opened and currently remains vacant. JCPenney does maintain a handful of small stores in the area (Marysville, Silverdale and Sequim) but is probably content to keep its two larger stores at Southcenter and Alderwood and leave it at that.

That said, the current anchor stores at Northgate are in pretty rough shape right now, especially the Macy's store. The Nordstrom store is also very small compared to the Downtown, Bellevue Square and Southcenter stores (the Alderwood store is fairly small as well, but still significantly larger.) My suspicion is that Nordstrom will replace their store at Northgate with a larger one, but that we'll eventually see the Macy's store close as well.
I doubt Nordstrom would replace their store. They're in a store pruning phase. I read an interview with the Nordstrom brothers a while back that said they overstored the west coast. They're current pattern is to have 2-3 full-line stores max in a metro area. One of the Seattle stores will eventually close and this might be the best candidate.
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Re: JCPenney closing Northgate Mall Seattle store in 2019

Post by Brian Lutz »

Actually that might be true. When the light rail line reaches Northgate in a couple of years (the projected opening of the light rail extension to Northgate is 2021) Northgate Mall will be a 15-minute light rail ride away from the Downtown Seattle flagship store. In that case, I could see one of the stripped down concept stores Nordstrom is experimenting with in LA being a good fit. That said, Seattle is Nordstrom's home turf, so they might be more inclined to keep stores open here than in other markets.
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Re: JCPenney closing Northgate Mall Seattle store in 2019

Post by Super S »

babs wrote: October 9th, 2018, 9:50 pm
I doubt Nordstrom would replace their store. They're in a store pruning phase. I read an interview with the Nordstrom brothers a while back that said they overstored the west coast. They're current pattern is to have 2-3 full-line stores max in a metro area. One of the Seattle stores will eventually close and this might be the best candidate.
Nordstrom seems to be following that pattern in Portland, with Lloyd Center and Vancouver Mall closing. Then you also have the closure of the store at Salem Center, noteworthy because Nordstrom was behind the project to build the mall. Nordstrom is focusing the Grade A malls in larger cities.
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Re: JCPenney closing Northgate Mall Seattle store in 2019

Post by SamSpade »

Super S wrote: October 10th, 2018, 3:10 pm
babs wrote: October 9th, 2018, 9:50 pm
I doubt Nordstrom would replace their store. They're in a store pruning phase. I read an interview with the Nordstrom brothers a while back that said they overstored the west coast. They're current pattern is to have 2-3 full-line stores max in a metro area. One of the Seattle stores will eventually close and this might be the best candidate.
Nordstrom seems to be following that pattern in Portland, with Lloyd Center and Vancouver Mall closing. Then you also have the closure of the store at Salem Center, noteworthy because Nordstrom was behind the project to build the mall. Nordstrom is focusing the Grade A malls in larger cities.
I don't think it's been said anywhere, but I really think N will close the Clackamas store when the lease is up as well. If you go in there, little to no improvement has been made, frayed carpeting, just things that don't scream "yes, we're investing here."
(sorry to go off-topic on the Northgate discussion)
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Re: JCPenney closing Northgate Mall Seattle store in 2019

Post by Super S »

SamSpade wrote: October 10th, 2018, 4:27 pm
Super S wrote: October 10th, 2018, 3:10 pm
babs wrote: October 9th, 2018, 9:50 pm
I doubt Nordstrom would replace their store. They're in a store pruning phase. I read an interview with the Nordstrom brothers a while back that said they overstored the west coast. They're current pattern is to have 2-3 full-line stores max in a metro area. One of the Seattle stores will eventually close and this might be the best candidate.
Nordstrom seems to be following that pattern in Portland, with Lloyd Center and Vancouver Mall closing. Then you also have the closure of the store at Salem Center, noteworthy because Nordstrom was behind the project to build the mall. Nordstrom is focusing the Grade A malls in larger cities.
I don't think it's been said anywhere, but I really think N will close the Clackamas store when the lease is up as well. If you go in there, little to no improvement has been made, frayed carpeting, just things that don't scream "yes, we're investing here."
(sorry to go off-topic on the Northgate discussion)
Not so sure I agree. Northgate is being redeveloped into another use entirely. Clackamas is not. Clackamas also has a history of not having many anchor vacancies. The only one I can think of was Montgomery Ward, which was due to the chain shutting down, not because of poor sales.

Clackamas is still a Grade A mall in many aspects, as is Washington Square.

Seattle and Portland are two different markets, and Clackamas does get its fair share of customers from Washington to avoid the sales tax.

Going back to Northgate, the Macy's does look a bit dated from the outside pictures I have seen, and I think Macy's may also be overstored in the Pacific Northwest...some of the stores in the smaller malls seem like they are struggling a bit.
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